THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


RUSSIAN  EXPLORATIONS,   1725-1743. 

VITUS  BERING: 

THE  DISCOVERER  OF  BERING  STRAIT. 


PETER  LAURIDSETsT, 

MEMBER  OP  THE  COUNCIL  OP  THE  ROYAL  DANISH  GEOGRAPHICAL  SOCIETY, 
EDITOR  OP  JENS  MUNK'S  "NAVIGATIO  SEPTENTRIONALIS." 


REVISED  BY  THE  AUTHOR,  AND  TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  DANISH  BY 
JULIUS  B.   OLSON, 

ASSISTANT  PROFESSOR  OF  SCANDINAVIAN  LANGUAGES  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  WISCONSIN. 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  AMERICAN  EDITION  BY 

FREDERICK  SCHWATKA, 

MEDALLIST  OF  THE  PARIS  GEOGRAPHICAL  SOCIETY,  AND  OF  THE  IMPERIAL  GEOGRAPHICAL 

SOCIETY  OF  RUSSIA;  HONORARY  MEMBER  OF  THE  BREMEN  GEOGRAPHICAL  SOCIETY, 

AND  THE  SWISS  GEOGRAPHICAL  SOCIETY  OF  GENEVA;  CORRESPONDING  MEMBER 

OF  THE  ITALIAN  GEOGRAPHICAL  SOCIETY,  ETC.,  ETC.;  AUTHOR  OF 

"ALONG  ALASKA'S  GBEAT  RIVEB,"  ETC.,  ETC. 


CHICAGO: 

S.    C.    GRIGGS   &   COMPANY, 
1889. 


COPYRIGHT,  1889, 
BY  S.  C.  GRIGGS  AND  COMPANY. 


PRESS   OF 

KNIGHT  &  LEONARD  CO. 

CHICAGO. 


College 
Library 


CONTENTS. 


LIEUT.  SCHWATKA'S  INTRODUCTION vii 

TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE xii 

AUTHOR'S  PREFACE xv 

PAET  I. 

BERING'S  FIRST  EXPEDITION. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Russia  and  England  in    the  work  of  Arctic    exploration. — 
Vitus  Bering's  rank  as  an  explorer 3 

CHAPTER  II. 

Bering's  nativity. — Norwegians  and  Danes  in  the  service  of 

Peter  the  Great. — Founding  of  the  Russian  navy     ...      6 

CHAPTER  III. 

Plans  for  Bering's  First  Expedition. — Peter  the  Great's  desire  to 
know  the  extent  of  his  empire. — The  Northeast  passage     .     12 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Bering's  knowledge  of  Siberian  geography. — Terrors  of  travel- 
ing in  Siberia. — The  expedition  starts  out. — The  journey 

from  St.  Petersburg  to  the  Pacific 19 

111 


iv  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  building  of  the  Gabriel. — The  discovery  of  Bering  Strait   .    29 
CHAPTER  VI. 

The  task  assigned  by  Peter  the  Great  accomplished. — History  of 
the  cartography  of  East  Siberia. — Captain  Cook's  defense  of 
Bering 35 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Bering's  winter  at  the  fort. — Indications  of  an  adjacent  con- 
tinent.— Unsuccessful  search  for  this  continent. — Return  to 
St.  Petersburg. — General  review  of  the  results  of  the  First 
Expedition 50 

PART  II. 
THE  GREAT  NORTHERN  EXPEDITION. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Bering's  plans  for  a  second  expedition. — The  greatest  geograph- 
ical enterprise  ever  undertaken 61 

CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Great  Northern  Expedition  on  its  way  through  Siberia. 
— Difficulties  and  dangers  encountered  and  overcome  .  .  77 

CHAPTER  X. 

Delay  of  the  expedition  caused  by  the  death  of  Lassenius  and 
his  command  in  the  Arctic  regions. — Dissatisfaction  of  the 
Senate  and  Admiralty  with  Bering's  work 91 

CHAPTER  XI. 
Final  Preparations  for  the  Pacific  expeditions 99 


CONTENTS.  V 

PAKT  III. 

THE  VARIOUS  EXPEDITIONS. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

The  Arctic  expeditions. — The  Northeast  passage. — Severe  crit- 
icisms on  Nordenskjold 107 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
The  discovery  of  the  Kurile  Islands  and  Japan  from  the  north  .  117 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Preparations  for  Bering's  voyage  of  discovery  to  America. — 
Founding  of  Petropavlovsk. — The  brothers  De  1'  Isle  .  .  127 

CHAPTER  XV. 

The  discovery  of  America  from  the  east. — Steller  induced  to 
join  the  expedition. — The  separation  of  the  St.  Peter  and 
the  St.  Paul 135 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Bering's  place  of  landing  on  the  American  coast. — Captain 
Cook's  uncertainty. — The  question  discussed  and  definitely 
settled 143 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Explorations  along  the  American  coast. — Steller's  censure  of 
Bering  for  undue  haste. — Bering  defended. — Dall,  the 
American  writer,  reprimanded. — The  return  voyage  .  .  150 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

The  discovery  of  the  Aleutian  Islands. — Terrible  hardships  of 
the  voyage. — Steller's  fault-finding. — Bering  confined  to  his 
cabin. — Deaths  on  board  from  exhaustion  and  disease. — 
Bering  Island  discovered.  — A  narrow  escape  ....  164 


VI  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

The  stay  on  Bering  Island. — Fauna  of  the  island. — A  rich  field 
for  Steller. — His  descriptions  immortalize  the  expedition. — 
The  sea-cow. — Its  extermination. — Nordenskjold  refuted. 
— Preparatiotis  for  wintering. — Sad  death  of  Bering. — An 
estimate  of  his  work. — Chirikoff's  return. — The  crew  of  the 
St.  Peter  leave  the  Island. — The  Great  Northern  Expedi- 
tion discontinued. — Bering's  reports  buried  in  Russian 
archives. — Bering  honored  by  Cook 174 

APPENDIX. 

BERING'S  REPORT  TO  THE  ADMIRALTY  FROM  OKHOTSK     .     .     .  195 

NOTES 202 

INDEX       217 

MAPS. 


INTRODUCTION  TO  AMERICAN  EDITION. 


A  BIOGRAPHY  of  the  great  Bering  is  of  especial  interest  to 
J_A_  American  readers  desiring  an  accurate  history  of  a  country 
that  has  recently  come  into  our  possession,  and  the  adjoining 
regions  where  most  of  the  geographical  investigations  of  the 
intrepid  Danish-Russian  explorer  were  made.  The  thorough,  con- 
cise, and  patient  work  done  by  Mr.  Lauridsen  is  deserving  of 
world-wide  commendation,  while  the  translation  into  the  language 
of  our  land  by  Professor  Olson  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin  puts 
students  of  American  historical  geography  under  a  debt  for  this 
labor  of  love  rather  than  remuneration  that  cannot  be  easily  paid, 
and  which  is  not  common  in  our  country.  It  is  a  matter  of  no 
small  national  pride  that  the  translation  into  the  English  language 
of  a  work  so  near  American  geographical  interests  should  have 
been  done  by  an  American,  rather  than  emanate  from  the  Hakluyt 
Society  or  other  British  sources,  from  which  we  usually  derive 
such  valuable  translations  and  compilations  of  old  explorations  and 
the  doings  of  the  first  explorers. 

The  general  American  opinion  regarding  Bering  is  probably 
somewhat  different  from  that  on  the  continent  which  gave  him 
birth  and  a  patron  government  to  carry  out  his  gigantic  and 
immortal  plans;  or,  better  speaking,  it  was  different  during  the 
controversy  in  the  past  over  the  value  and  authenticity  of  the 
great  explorer's  works,  for  European  opinion  of  Bering  has  slowly 
been  more  and  more  favorable  to  him,  until  it  has  reached  the 
maximum  and  complete  vindication  in  the  admirable  labors  of 
Lauridsen,  whose  painstaking  researches  in  the  only  archives 
where  authentic  data  of  the  doings  of  the  daring  Dane  could  be 
found,  has  left  no  ground  for  those  critics  to  stand  upon,  who  have 

vil 


Viii  INTRODUCTION  TO  AMERICAN   EDITION. 

censured  Peter  the  Great's  selection  of  an  oriental  explorer.  In 
short,  America  has  always  respected  Bering  as  a  great  explorer, 
and  oftentimes  heralded  him  as  one  of  the  highest  of  heroes,  what- 
ever may  have  been  the  varying  phases  of  European  thought  on  the 
subject;  and  the  reasons  therefor,  I  think,  are  two-fold.  In  the 
first  place,  the  continent  which  Bering  first  separated  from  the 
old  world  is  yet  a  new  country.  Since  its  discovery,  not  only 
'exploration,  but  commercial  exploration,  or  pioneering  as  we  call 
it,  has  been  going  on,  and  in  this  every  one  has  taken  his  part  or 
mingled  often  with  those  who  have.  Presidents  who  were 
pioneers,  have  been  contemporaries  with  our  times,  while  those  who 
have  struggled  on  the  selvage  of  civilization  are  numerous  among 
us,  and  their  adventures  as  narrated  in  books  are  familiar  stories 
to  our  ears.  Such  a  people,  I  believe,  are  much  less  liable  to 
listen  to  the  labored  logic  of  a  critic  against  a  man  who  carried  his 
expedition  six  thousand  miles  across  a  wilderness  and  launched 
it  on  the  inhospitable  shores  of  an  unknown  sea,  to  solve  a  problem 
that  has  borne  them  fruit,  than  others  not  similarly  situated  would 
be.  While  the  invariable  rule  has  been  that  where  the  path-finder 
and  critic — unless  the  critic  has  been  an  explorer  in  the  same  field — 
have  come  in  collision,  the  latter  has  always  gone  to  the  wall,  it  is 
easy  to  see  that  with  a  jury  that  have  themselves  lived  amidst 
similar,  though  possibly  slighter,  frontier  fortunes,  such  a  verdict  is 
more  readily  reached. 

The  other  reason,  which  is  not  so  commendable,  is  that  few 
Americans  at  large  have  interested  themselves  in  the  discussion, 
or  in  fact  knew  much  about  it.  True,  the  criticisms  on  the  Eastern 
continent  have  been  re-echoed  on  this  side  of  the  water,  and  even 
added  to,  but  they  have  created  no  general  impression  worth 
recording  as  such  in  a  book  that  will  undoubtedly  have  far  wider 
circulation  than  the  discussion  has  ever  had,  unless  I  have  mis- 
judged the  temper  of  the  American  people  to  desire  information 
on  just  such  work  as  Bering  has  done,  and  which  for  the  first 
time  is  presented  to  them  in  anything  like  an  authentic  way  by 
Professor  Olson's  translation  of  Mr.  Lauridsen's  work.  I  do  not 
wish  to  be  understood  that  we  as  a  nation  have  been  wholly 


INTRODUCTION  TO   AMERICAN   EDITION.  IX 

indifferent  to  Bering  and  the  discussion  of  his  claims.  Par  from  it. 
It  has  rather  been  that  in  invading  the  Bering  world  their  dispo- 
sition has  led  them  to  view  the  solid  ground  on  which  he  made  his 
mark,  rather  than  the  clouds  hovering  above,  and  which  this  work 
dissipates.  It  is  rather  of  that  character  of  ignorance — if  so  strong 
a  word  is  justifiable — that  is  found  here  in  the  persistent  misspelling^ 
of  the  great  explorer's  name  and  the  bodies  of  water  which  have 
transmitted  it  to  posterity  so  well,  although  the  authority — really 
the  absolute  demand,  if  correctness  is  desired — for  the  change 
from  Behring  to  Bering  has  been  well  known  to  exist  for  a  number 
of  years,  and  is  now  adopted  in  even  our  best  elementary  geogra- 
phies. While  the  animalish  axiom  that  "ignorance  is  bliss"  is 
probably  never  true,  there  may  be  cases  where  it  is  apparently 
fortunate,  and  this  may  be  so  in  that  Americans  in  being  seem- 
ingly apathetic  have  really  escaped  a  discussion  which  after  all  has 
ended  in  placing  the  man  considered  in  about  the  same  status  that 
they  always  assumed  he  had  filled.  One  might  argue  that  it  would 
have  been  better  for  Americans,  therefore,  if  they  had  been  pre- 
sented with  a  simple  and  authentic  biography  of  the  immortal 
Danish-Russian,  rather  than  with  a  book  that  is  both  a  biography 
and  a  defense,  but  Lauridsen's  work  after  all  is  the  best,  I  think  all 
will  agree,  as  no  biography  of  Bering  could  be  complete  without 
some  account  of  that  part  in  which  he  had  no  making  and  no 
share,  as  well  as  that  better  part  which  he  chronicled  with  his 
own  brain  and  brawn. 

I  doubt  yet  if  Americans  will  take  very  much  interest  in  the 
dispute  over  Bering's  simple  claims  in  which  he  could  take  no 
part;  but  that  this  book,  which  settles  them  so  clearly,  will  be 
welcomed  by  the  reading  classes  of  a  nation  that  by  acquisition  in 
Alaska  has  brought  them  so  near  the  field  of  the  labor  of  Bering, 
I  think  there  need  not  be  the  slightest  fear.  It  is  one  of  the  most 
important  links  yet  welded  by  the  wisdom  of  man  which  can  be 
made  into  a  chain  of  history  for  our  new  acquisition  whose  history 
is  yet  so  imperfect,  and  will  remain  so,  until  Russian  archives  are 
placed  in  the  hands  of  those  they  consider  fair-minded  judges, 
as  in  the  present  work. 


X  INTRODUCTION  TO  AMERICAN  EDITION. 

On  still  broader  grounds,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  this  work  will 
meet  with  American  success,  that  it  may  be  an  entering  wedge  to 
that  valuable  literature  of  geographical  research  and  exploration, 
which  from  incompatibility  of  language  and  other  causes  has  never 
been  fully  or  even  comprehensively  opened  to  English  speaking 
people.  It  has  been  well  said  by  one  who  has  opportunities  to 
fairly  judge  that  "it  has  been  known  by  scientists  for  some  time 
that  more  valuable  investigation  was  buried  from  sight  in  the 
Russian  language  than  in  any  or  all  others.  Few  can  imagine 
what  activity  in  geographical,  statistical,  astronomical,  and  other 
research  has  gone  on  in  the  empire  of  the  Czar.  It  is  predicted 
that  within  ten  years  more  students  will  take  up  the  Russian 
language  than  those  of  other  nations  of  Eastern  Europe,  simply  as 
a  necessity.  This  youngest  family  of  the  Aryans  is  moving  west- 
ward with  its  ideas  and  literature,  as  well  as  its  population  and 
empire.  There  are  no  better  explorers  and  no  better  recorders 
of  investigations."  It  is  undoubtedly  a  field  in  which  Americans 
can  reap  a  rich  reward  of  geographical  investigation.  There  is 
an  idea  among  some,  and  even  friends  of  Russia,  that  their  trav- 
elers and  explorers  have  not  done  themselves  justice  in  recording 
their  doings,  but  this  in  the  broad  sense  is  not  true.  Rather  they 
have  been  poor  chroniclers  for  the  public ;  but  their  official  reports, 
hidden  away  in  government  archives,  are  rich  in  their  thorough 
investigations,  oftentimes  more  nearly  perfect  and  complete  than 
the  equivalents  in  our  own  language,  where  it  takes  no  long  argu- 
ment to  prove  that  great  attention  given  to  the  public  and  popular 
account,  has  been  at  the  expense  of  the  similar  qualities  in  the 
official  report;  while  many  expeditions,  American  and  British,  have 
not  been  under  official  patronage  at  all,  which  has  seldom  been  the 
case  with  Russian  research.  As  already  noted,  the  bulk  of  similar 
volumes  from  other  languages  and  other  archives  into  the  English 
has  come  from  Great  Britain ;  but  probably  from  the  unfortunate 
bitter  antagonism  between  the  two  countries  which  has  created 
an  apathy  in  one  and  a  suspicion  in  the  other  that  they  will  not 
be  judged  in  an  unprejudiced  way,  Russia  has  not  got  a  fair  share 
of  what  she  has  really  accomplished  geographically  translated  into 


INTRODUCTION  TO   AMERICAN   EDITION.  XI 

our  tongue.  It  is  through  America,  an  unprejudiced  nation,  that 
this  could  be  remedied,  if  a  proper  interest  is  shown,  and  which 
will  probably  be  determined,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  by  the 
reception  of  this  book  here,  although  it  comes  to  us  in  the  round- 
about way  of  the  Danish  language. 

FREDERICK  SCHWATKA. 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE. 


IN  placing  before  the  American  public  this  book  on  Vitus  Bering, 
I  desire  to  express  my  cordial  thanks  to  those  who  by  word 
and  deed  have  assisted  me.  I  am  especially  grateful  to  Lieutenant 
Frederick  Schwatka,  who,  in  the  midst  of  pressing  literary  labors 
consequent  on  his  recent  explorations  among  the  cave  and  cliff 
dwellers  of  the  Sierra  Madre  Mountains,  has  been  so  exceedingly 
kind  as  to  write  an  introduction  to  the  American  edition  of  this 
work.  I  feel  confident  that  the  introductory  words  of  this  doughty 
explorer  will  secure  for  Bering  that  consideration  from  the  Ameri- 
can people  to  which  he  is  fairly  entitled. 

I  find  it  a  pleasant  duty  to  acknowledge  my  indebtedness  to  Dr. 
Leonhard  Stejneger  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  who  has  sent 
me  some  valuable  and  interesting  notes  to  the  chapter  on  "The 
Stay  on  Bering  Island "  (Chapter  XIX).  Dr.  Stejneger's  notes  are 
of  especial  interest,  for  in  the  years  1882-'84  he  spent  eighteen 
months  on  Bering  Island  in  the  service  of  the  United  States  gov- 
ernment, the  object  of  his  expedition  being  to  study  the  general 
natural  history  of  the  island,  to  collect  specimens  of  all  kinds, 
but  especially  to  search  for  remains  of  the  sea-cow.  He  wished 
also  to  identify  the  places  mentioned  by  Steller,  the  famous  natur- 
alist of  the  Bering  expedition,  in  order  to  compare  his  description 
with  the  localities  as  they  present  themselves  to-day,  and  to  visit 
the  places  where  Bering's  vessel  was  wrecked,  where  the  ill-fated 
expedition  wintered,  and  where  Steller  made  his  observations  on 
the  sea-cow.  The  results  of  Dr.  Stejneger's  investigations  have 
been  published  in  "  Proceedings  of  the  United  States  National 
Museum"  and  in  various  American  and  European  scientific 

journals. 

xii 


TRANSLATOR'S    PREFACE.  Xlll 

I  am  also  under  obligation  to  Prof.  Rasmus  B.  Anderson, 
Ex-United  States  Minister  to  Denmark,  through  whom  I  have 
been  enabled  to  make  this  an  authorized  edition,  and  to  Reuben  G. 
Thwaites,  Secretary  of  the  Wisconsin  State  Historical  Society,  and 
Frederick  J.  Turner,  Assistant  Professor  of  American  History  in 
the  University  of  Wisconsin,  for  valuable  criticism  and  suggestions. 

In  regard  to  the  orthography  of  Russian  and  Siberian  names,  I 
wish  to  say  that  I  have  endeavored  to  follow  American  writers  that 
advocate  a  rational  simplification.  W.  H.  Dall,  author  of  "Alaska 
and  its  Resources,"  says  on  this  point:  "From  ignorance  of  the 
true  phonetic  value  of  the  Russian  compound  consonants,  and 
from  literal  transcription,  instead  of  phonetic  translation,  of  the 
German  rendering  of  Russian  and  native  names,  much  con- 
fusion has  arisen.  Many  writers  persistently  represent  the  third 
letter  of  the  Russian  alphabet  by  w,  writing  Romanow  instead  of 
Romanoff,  etc.  The  twenty-fifth  letter  is  also  frequently  rendered 
tscJi  instead  of  ch  soft,  as  in  church,  which  fully  represents  it  in 
English.  It  is  as  gross  an  error  to  spell  Kamchatka  for  instance, 
Kamtschatka,  as  it  would  be  for  a  foreigner  to  represent  the 
English  word  church  by  tschurtsch,  and  so  on."  From  this  it 
would  seem  that  the  Germanized  forms  of  these  names  are  incor- 
rect, as  well  as  needlessly  forbidding  in  appearance.  It  is,  more- 
over, due  to  German  writers  that  Bering's  name  has  been  burdened 
with  a  superfluous  letter.  Fac-similes  of  his  autograph,  one  of 
which  may  be  seen  by  referring  to  Map  I.  in  the  Appendix,  prove 
incontestably  that  he  spelled  his  name  without  an  h. 

Although  Mr.  Lauridsen's  book  is  essentially  a  defense  of  Vitus 
Bering,  written  especially  for  the  student  of  history  and  historical 
geography,  it  nevertheless  contains  several  chapters  of  thrilling 
interest  to  the  general  reader.  The  closing  chapters,  for  instance, 
give,  not  only  a  reliable  account  of  the  results  of  Bering's  voyage  of 
discovery  in  the  North  Pacific,  and  valuable  scientific  information 
concerning  the  remarkable  animal  life  on  Bering  Island,  where, 
before  Bering's  frail  ship  was  dashed  upon  its  shores,  no  human 
foot  had  trod,  but  they  also  portray  in  vivid  colors  the  tragic  events 
that  brought  this  greatest  of  geographical  enterprises  to  a  close. 


xiv  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE. 

The  regions  to  which  Bering's  last  labors  gave  Russia  the  first 
title  are  at  the  present  time  the  object  of  much  newspaper  comment. 
His  last  expedition,  the  few  survivors  of  which  brought  home 
costly  skins  that  evinced  the  great  wealth  of  the  newly  discov- 
ered lands,  opened  up  to  the  Russian  fur-hunter  an  El  Dorado  that 
still  continues  to  be  a  most  profitable  field  of  pursuit,  now  vigi- 
lantly watched  by  the  jealous  eyes  of  rival  nations. 

JULIUS  E.  OLSON. 
MADISON,  Wis. 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE. 


rplHROUGH  the  patronage  of  the  Hielmstierne-Rosencrone  Insti- 
-*-  tution,  obtained  in  the  summer  of  1883,  I  was  enabled  to  spend 
some  time  among  the  archives  and  libraries  in  St.  Petersburg,  to 
prepare  myself  for  undertaking  this  work  on  Vitus  Bering.  I  very 
soon,  however,  encountered  obstacles  which  unassisted  I  should  not 
have  been  able  to  surmount;  for,  contrary  to  my  expectations,  all 
the  original  manuscripts  and  archives  pertaining  to  the  history  of 
Bering  were  written  in  Russian,  and  the  latter  in  such  difficult 
language  that  none  but  native  palaeographers  could  read  them. 

1  should  for  this  reason  have  been  compelled  to  return  without 
having  accomplished  anything,  had  I  not  in  two  gentlemen, 
Admiral  Th.  Wessalgo  and  Mr.  August  Thornam  of  the  telegraph 
department,  found  all  the  assistance  that  I  needed.  The  Admiral 
is  director  of  the  department  of  hydrography,  and  has  charge  of 
the  magnificent  archives  of  the  Admiralty.  He  is  very  familiar 
with  the  history  of  the  Russian  fleet,  and  he  gave  me,  not  only 
excellent  and  exhaustive  bibliographical  information,  besides  put- 
ting at  my  disposal  the  library  of  the  department,  but  also  had 
made  for  me  copies  of  various  things  that  were  not  easily  accessible^ 
He  has,  moreover,  since  my  return  been  unwearied  in  furnishing  me 
such  information  from  the  Russian  archives  as  I  have  desired.  For 
all  of  this  kindness,  enhanced  by  the  Admiral's  flattering  remarks 
about  Denmark  and  the  Danes,  I  find  it  a  pleasant  duty  to  express 
my  warmest  thanks.  To  Mr.  Thornam  I  am  no  less  indebted. 
Notwithstanding  his  laborious  duties  in  the  central  telegraph  office 
of  St.  Petersburg,  he  found  it  possible  week  after  week,  often 
eight  or  ten  hours  out  of  the  twenty-four,  to  assist  me  in  translating 

the  vast  materials. 

xv 


xvi  AUTHOR'S  PREFACE. 

Besides  this,  I  derived  much  benefit  from  his  comprehensive 
knowledge  of  Siberia,  obtained  on  travels  in  the  same  regions  where 
Bering  had  been.  He  has  had  the  kindness  to  examine  the  collec- 
tion of  charts  and  maps  in  both  the  Admiralty  and  Imperial 
libraries,  and  secure  for  me  some  valuable  copies.  He  has  also,  at 
my  request,  examined  a  series  of  articles  in  periodicals  containing 
notices  of  Bering's  geographical  enterprise. 

It  is  only  by  means  of  this  valuable  assistance  that  I  have  suc- 
ceeded in  basing  this  biographical  sketch  on  Russian  literature,  and 
putting  it,  as  I  hope,  on  a  par  with  what  has  been  written  on  this 
subject  by  Russian  authors. 

Of  the  many  others  that  in  one  way  or  another  have  seconded 
my  efforts  in  giving  as  valuable  a  biography  of  my  renowned  fellow- 
countryman  as  possible,  I  owe  special  thanks — not  to  mention  the 
Hielmstierne-Rosencrone  Institution — to  Mr.  Hegel,  the  veteran 
publisher,  Col.  Hoskier,  Dr.  Karl  Verner,  instructor  in  Sclavonic 
languages  at  the  University  of  Copenhagen,  who  has  examined  some 
very  difficult  archival  matter  for  me,  Professor  Alexander  Vasili- 
evich  Grigorieff,  Secretary  of  the  Imperial  Russian  Geographical 
Society,  and  to  Mr.  E.  W.  Dahlgren,  Secretary  of  the  Swedish 
Society  for  Anthropology  and  Geography.  P.  L. 


PART    I. 


BERING'S  FIRST  EXPEDITION. 


CHAPTER  I. 

KUSSIA  AND   ENGLAND  IN  THE  WORK  OF  ARCTIC  EXPLOR- 
ATION.— VITUS  BERING'S  RANK  AS  AN  EXPLORER. 

IN  the  great  work  of  Arctic  exploration  done  during 
the  last  two  centuries,  it  was  first  Russia  and  later 
England  that  took  the  lead,  and  to  these  two  nations  we 
are  principally  indebted  for  our  knowledge  of  Arctic  con- 
tinental coast-lines.  The  English  expeditions  were  under- 
taken with  better  support,  and  under  circumstances  better 
designed  to  attract  public  attention.  They  have,  more- 
over, been  excellently  described,  and  are  consequently  well 
known.  But  in  the  greatness  of  the  tasks  undertaken,  in 
the  perseverance  of  their  leaders,  in  difficulties,  dangers, 
and  tragic  fates,  Russian  explorations  stand  worthily  at 
their  side.  The  geographical  position  of  the  Russians, 
their  dispersion  throughout  the  coldest  regions  of  the 
earth,  their  frugal  habits,  remarkable  power  of  foresight, 
and  their  adventurous  spirit,  make  them  especially  fitted 
for  Arctic  explorations.  Hence,  as  early  as  the  first  half 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  they  accomplished  for  Asia  what 
the  English  not  until  a  hundred  years  later  succeeded  in 
doing  for  the  other  side  of  the  earth, —  namely,  the 
charting  of  the  polar  coasts. 

In  this  work  the  Russians  introduced  the  system  of 
coasting  and  sledging  into  the  service  of  Arctic  expedi- 


4  VITU8   BERING. 

tions,  and  it  is  only  through  a  systematic  development  of 
these  means  that  western  Europe  has  been  enabled  to 
celebrate  its  most  brilliant  triumphs  in  the  Arctic  regions, 
and  to  succeed  in  getting  farther  than  did  the  navigators 
of  the  seventeenth  century.  The  history  of  Russian  polar 
explorations  has  a  series  of  proud  names,  which  lack  only 
the  pen  of  a  Sherard  Osborn  to  shine  by  the  side  of 
Franklin  and  McClure,  and  it  redounds  to  the  honor  of 
Denmark  that  one  of  the  first  and  greatest  of  these  men 
was  a  Dane, — that  the  most  brilliant  chapter  in  the  his- 
tory of  Russian  explorations  is  due  to  the  initiative  and 
indefatigable  energy  of  Vitus  Bering.  In  the  service  of 
Peter  the  Great  he  successfully  doubled  the  northeastern 
peninsula  of  Asia,  and  after  his  return  he  made  a  plan  for 
the  exploration  of  the  whole  Northeast  passage  from  the 
White  Sea  to  Japan.  Although  he  succumbed  in  this 
undertaking,  he  lived  long  enough  to  see  his  gigantic 
plans  approach  realization. 

Bering  was  buried  on  an  island  in  the  Pacific,  amid  the 
scenes  of  his  labors,  under  that  sand-barrow  which  had 
been  his  death-bed.  For  many  generations  only  a  plain 
wooden  cross  marked  his  resting-place,  and  as  for  his 
fame,  it  has  been  as  humble  and  modest  as  his  head-board. 
His  labors  belonged  to  a  strange  people  who  had  but  little 
sympathy  for  the  man.  His  own  countrymen,  among 
whom  he  might  have  found  this  sympathetic  interest, 
knew  his  work  but  very  imperfectly.  Not  until  after  the 
lapse  of  a  century  did  he  find  a  careful  biographer,  and 
even  within  comparatively  recent  years  the  great  scientist 
Von  Baer  has  found  it  necessary  to  defend  him  against 
misunderstandings  and  petty  attacks. 


BERING'S  FIRST  EXPEDITION.  5 

Danish  literature  contains  nothing  of  moment  concern- 
ing him,  for  the  two  treatises  which  several  generations 
ago  were  published  by  M.  Hallager  and  Odin  Wolff,  are 
merely  scanty  extracts  from  G.  F.  Miiller's  historical 
works.  In  the  following  pages,  therefore,  relying  not 
only  upon  Kussian,  but  also  upon  West  European  litera- 
ture for  information,  we  desire  to  erect  to  him  a  monument 
by  giving  a  short  account  of  his  life  and  work,  sketching 
at  the  same  time  a  chapter  of  geographical  history  which 
is  lacking  neither  in  importance  nor  in  interest. 


CHAPTEE  II. 

BERING'S  NATIVITY. —  NORWEGIANS  AND  DANES  IN  THE 
SERVICE  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT. —  FOUNDING  OF  THE 
RUSSIAN  NAVY. 

"YTITUS  BERING  was  a  son  of  Jonas  Svendsen  and 
*  his  second  wife,  Anna  Bering  of  Horsens,  at  which 
place  he  was  born  in  the  summer  of  1681.  On  the  ma- 
ternal side  he  descended  from  the  distinguished  Bering 
family,  which  during  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries  flourished  in  various  parts  of  Denmark,  and  in- 
cluded a  very  respectable  number  of  ministers  and  judi- 
cial officers.* 

Our  hero  passed  his  childhood  in  a  Christian  family  of 
culture  in  the  Jutland  seaport  town  of  his  birth.  Here 
for  a  series  of  years  his  father  filled  several  positions  of 
trust,  and  was  closely  associated  with  the  leading  men  of 
the  place,  as  his  wife's  sister,  Margaret  Bering,  had  mar- 
ried two  consecutive  mayors.  He  was,  however,  far  from 
being  considered  well-to-do.  He  had  many  children. 
One  of  his  sons  had  caused  him  much  trouble  and  ex- 
pense, and  was  finally  sent  to  the  East  Indies.  In  the 
probate  record  of  his  estate,  made  in  1719,  there  is  a  deed 
of  conveyance  from  himself  and  wife  in  which  the  following 

•Some  details  of  Bering's  genealogy,  which  can  be  of  no  interest  to  the 
American  reader,  the  translator  has  taken  the  liberty  to  omit. 

6 


BERING'S  FIRST  EXPEDITION.  7 

appears:  "We  are  old,  miserable,  and  decrepit  people,  in 
no  way  able  to  help  ourselves.  Our  property  consists  of 
the  old  dilapidated  home  and  the  furniture  thereto  be- 
longing, which  is  of  but  little  value."  It  was  his  share 
of  this  inheritance,  with  accrued  interest,  all  amount- 
ing to  140  rigsdaler,  that  Vitus  Bering  later  presented 
to  his  native  town  to  be  used  for  the  benefit  of  the 
poor. 

From  inclination,  and  forced  by  the  circumstances  of 
his  humble  home,  Bering  went  to  sea,  and  on  the  long 
expeditions  that  he  made,  he  developed  into  an  able  sea- 
man. From  an  East  India  expedition  in  1703  he  came  to 
Amsterdam,  where  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Admiral 
Cruys,  a  native  of  Norway.  Soon  afterwards,  at  the  age 
of  twenty-two,  he  joined  a  Eussian  fleet  as  a  sub-lieuten- 
ant. What  Norwegian  and  Danish  seamen  accomplished 
at  this  period  in  the  service  of  Eussia,  has  been  almost 
entirely  forgotten.  In  the  company  of  intelligent  for- 
eigners that  Czar  Peter  employed  for  the  transformation 
of  his  kingdom,  the  Danish-Norse  contingent  occupies  a 
prominent  place.  This  is  due  principally  to  Peter  him- 
self, and  was  a  result  of  his  experiences  in  Holland. 
After  having,  on  his  first  extensive  foreign  trip,  learned 
the  art  of  ship-building, —  not  in  Zaandam,  as  it  is  usually 
stated,  but  at  the  docks  of  the  East  India  Company  in 
Amsterdam, —  he  was  much  dissatisfied  with  the  empirical 
method  which  the  Hollanders,  used,  and  he  wrote  to 
Voronetz,  his  own  ship-yard,  that  the  Dutch  ship-builders 
there  should  no  longer  be  permitted  to  work  independ- 
ently, but  be  placed  under  the  supervision  of  Danes  or 
Englishmen. 


8  VITUS   BERING. 

Peter  retained  his  high  regard  for  Danish-Norse  ship- 
building during  his  whole  life,  and  it  was  on  this 
account  that  Danes  and  Norwegians  were  enabled  to 
exert  so  great  an  influence  in  St.  Petersburg.  This  is 
the  reason,  too,  that  Danish-Norse  *  seamen  were  received 
so  kindly  in  Kussia  even  long  after  the  death  of  the  great 
Czar. 

Next  to  Peter,  Norwegians  and  Danes  had  the  greatest 
share  in  the  founding  of  the  Russian  fleet,  and  among 
them  the  place  of  honor  belongs  to  the  Norseman  Corne- 
lius Cruys,  who  in  1697  was  assistant  master  of  ordnance 
in  the  Dutch  navy,  where  he  was  held  in  high  regard  as  a 
ship-builder,  a  cartographer,  and  as  a  man  well  versed  in 
everything  pertaining  to  the  equipment  of  a  fleet.  Peter 
made  him  his  vice-admiral,  and  assigned  to  him  the  tech- 
nical control  of  the  fleet,  the  building  of  new  vessels, 
their  equipment,  and,  above  all,  the  task  of  supplying 
them  with  West  European  officers. 

Weber  assigns  Cruys  a  place  in  the  first  rank  among 
those  foreigners  to  whom  Russia  owes  much  of  her  devel- 
opment, and  remarks  that  it  was  he,  "the  incomparable 
master  of  ordnance,  who  put  the  Russian  fleet  upon  its 
keel  and  upon  the  sea."  He  belonged  to  the  fashionable 
circles  of  St.  Petersburg,  owned  a  large  and  beautiful 
palace  on  the  Neva,  where  now  tower  the  Winter  Palace 
and  the  Hermitage,  and  was  one  of  the  few  among  the 
wealthy  that  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  entertaining  the 
Czar  on  festive  occasions.  He  became  vice-president  of 
the  council  of  the  Admiralty,  was  promoted,  after  the 
peace  of  Nystad,  to  the  position  of  admiral  of  the  Blue 

*  Norway  and  Denmark  were  at  this  time  united.— TB. 


BERING'S  FIRST  EXPEDITION.  9 

Flag,   and  made  a  knight  of  the  order  of  Alexander 
Nevsky. 

In  Peter  the  Great's  remarkable  house  in  St.  Peters- 
burg there  is  preserved,  among  many  other  relics,  a  yawl 
which  is  called  the  grandfather  of  the  fleet.  With  this, 
Peter  had  begun  his  nautical  experiments,  and  in  1723, 
when  he  celebrated  the  founding  of  his  fleet,  he  rowed 
down  the  Neva  in  it.  Peter  himself  was  at  the  rudder, 
Apraxin  was  cockswain,  and  Admiral  Cruys,  Vice- 
Admiral  Gordon,  Sievers  and  Menshikoff  were  at  the 
oars.  On  this  occasion  the  Czar  embraced  Cruys  and 
called  him  his  father. 

During  his  whole  life  Cruys  preserved  a  warm  affec- 
tion for  his  native  land;  hence  it  was  natural  that  the 
Scandinavian  colony  in  St.  Petersburg  gathered  about 
him.  His  successor  as  vice-president  of  the  council  of 
the  Admiralty,  and  as  master  of  ordnance,  was  the  former 
Danish  naval  lieutenant  Peter  Sievers,  who  likewise  ele- 
vated himself  to  most  important  positions,  and  exerted  a 
highly  beneficial  influence  upon  the  development  of  the 
Eussian  fleet.  At  the  side  of  these  two  heroes,  moreover, 
there  were  others,  as  Admirals  Daniel  Wilster  and  Peter 
Bredal,  Commander  Thure  Trane,  and  also  Skeving, 
Herzenberg,  Peder  Grib,  "  Tordenskjold's  *  brave  com- 
rade in  arms,"  and  many  others. 

For  a  long  time  Vitus  Bering  was  one  of  Cruys's  most 
intimate  associates,  and  these  two,  with  Admiral  Sievers, 
form  an  honorable  trio  in  that  foreign  navy.  Bering  was 
soon  appointed  to  a  position  in  the  Baltic  fleet,  and 

*  Peter  Tordenskjold  (1691-1780),  a  Norwegian  in  the  Danish  Norse  ser- 
vice,—the  greatest  naval  hero  Scandinavia  has  ever  produced.— TB. 


10  VITUS   BERING. 

during  Kussia's  protracted  struggles,  his  energy  found 
that  scope  which  he  before  had  sought  on  the  ocean,  and 
at  the  same  time  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  fighting  the 
foes  of  his  native  land.  He  was  a  bold  and  able  com- 
mander. During  the  whole  war  he  cruised  about  in  the 
Sea  of  Azov  and  the  Black  Sea,  and  in  the  Baltic  and 
other  northern  waters.  Some  of  the  most  important 
transport  expeditions  were  entrusted  to  him.  The  Czar 
prized  his  services  very  highly,  and  when,  after  the  mis- 
fortune at  Pruth  in  1711,  he  laid  a  plan  to  rescue  three 
of  the  best  ships  of  his  Black  Sea  fleet  by  a  bold  run 
through  the  Bosporus,  Vitus  Bering,  Peder  Bredal,  and 
Simon  Skop  were  chosen  for  the  task.  Whether  the  plan 
was  carried  out,  it  is  difficult  to  determine.  Berch  says 
that  it  was  not,  and  adds,  "  I  cite  the  incident  simply  to 
show  that  even  at  that  time  Bering  was  looked  upon  as 
an  excellent  commander."  In  various  West  European 
authorities,  however,  it  is  distinctly  stated  that  Sievers 
conducted  the  ships  to  England,  and  in  a  review  of 
Bering's  life  published  by  the  Admiralty  in  1882,  it  is 
stated  that  Bering  was  in  1711  appointed  to  conduct  the 
ship  Munker  from  the  Sea  of  Azov  to  the  Baltic,  and  as 
the  Admiralty  would  hardly  in  a  condensed  report  have 
taken  notice  of  plans  which  had  never  been  carried  out, 
it  seems  most  probable  that  Berch  has  been  incorrectly 
informed. 

In  1707  Bering  was  promoted  to  the  position  of  lieu- 
tenant, in  1710  to  that  of  lieutenant-captain,  and  in  1715 
to  that  of  captain  of  the  fourth  rank,  when  he  assumed 
command  of  the  new  ship  Selafail  in  Archangel  to  sail  it 
to  Copenhagen  and  Kronstadt.  In  1716  he  participated 


BERING'S  FIRST  EXPEDITION.  11 

in  an  expedition  of  the  united  fleets  to  Bornholm  under 
the  command  of  Sievers.  In  1717  he  was  made  captain 
of  the  third,  and  in  1720  of  the  second  rank,  and  took 
part,  until  peace  was  concluded,  in  the  various  man- 
oeuvers  in  the  Baltic  under  the  command  of  Gordon  and 
Apraxin.* 

After  the  peace  of  Nystad  in  1721,  however,  his  posi- 
tion became  somewhat  unpleasant.  Although  he  was  a 
brother-in-law  of  Vice- Admiral  Saunders,  he  had,  accord- 
ing to  Berch,  powerful  enemies  in  the  Admiralty.  The 
numerous  promotions  made  after  the  conclusion  of  peace, 
in  no  way  applied  to  him.  In  the  following  year  younger 
comrades  were  advanced  beyond  him,  and  hence  in  1724 
he  demanded  promotion  to  a  captaincy  of  the  first  rank, 
or  his  discharge.  After  protracted  negotiations,  and  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  Apraxin  repeatedly  refused  to  sign 
his  discharge,  he  finally  obtained  it,  and  then  withdrew 
to  his  home  in  Viborg,  Finland,  where  he  owned  an 
estate,  and  where,  no  doubt  on  account  of  the  Scandi- 
navian character  of  the  city,  he  preferred  to  stay.  Pur- 
ing  the  negotiations  for  his  discharge,  the  Czar  was  in 
Olonetz,  but  some  time  afterwards  he  informed  Apraxin 
that  Bering  was  again  to  enter  the  navy,  and  with  the 
desired  promotion.  This  occurred  in  August,  1724,  and 
a  few  months  later  Bering  was  appointed  chief  of  the 
First  Kamcliatkan  Expedition,  the  object  of  which  was 
to  determine  whether  Asia  and  America  were  connected 

by  land. 

*  See  Appendix,  Note  1. 


CHAPTER  III. 

PLANS  FOR  BERING'S  FIRST  EXPEDITION.  —  PETER  THE 
GREAT'S  DESIRE  TO  KNOW  THE  EXTENT  OF  HIS  EMPIRE. 
—  THE  NORTHEAST  PASSAGE. 


equipment  of  Bering's  first  expedition  was  one  of 
-*-  Peter  the  Great's  last  administrative  acts.  From  his 
death-bed  his  energy  set  in  motion  those  forces  which  in 
the  generation  succeeding  him  were  to  conquer  a  new 
world  for  human  knowledge.  It  was  not  until  his  mighty 
spirit  was  about  to  depart  this  world  that  the  work  was 
begun,  but  the  impetus  given  by  him  was  destined  to  be 
effective  for  half  a  century  ;  and  the  results  achieved  still 
excite  our  admiration. 

Peter  was  incited  to  undertake  this  work  by  a  desire 
for  booty,  by  a  keen,  somewhat  barbaric  curiosity,  and  by 
a  just  desire  to  know  the  natural  boundaries  of  his 
dominion.  He  was  no  doubt  less  influenced  by  the  flat- 
tery of  the  French  Academy  and  other  institutions  than 
is  generally  supposed.  His  great  enterprise  suddenly 
brought  Russia  into  the  front  rank  of  those  nations  which 
at  that  time  were  doing  geographical  exploration.  Just 
before  his  death  three  great  enterprises  were  planned  : 
the  establishment  of  a  mart  at  the  mouth  of  the  river 
Kur  for  the  oriental  trade,  the  building  up  of  a  mari- 

time trade  with  India,  and  an  expedition  to  search  for 

12 


BERING'S  FIRST  EXPEDITION.  13 

the  boundary  between  Asia  and  America.  The  first 
two  projects  did  not  survive  the  Czar,  but  Bering 
clung  to  the  plan  proposed  for  him,  and  accomplished 
his  task. 

Peter  the  Great  gave  no  heed  to  obstacles,  and  never 
weighed  the  possibilities  for  the  success  of  an  enterprise. 
Consequently  his  plans  were  on  a  grand  scale,  but  the 
means  set  aside  for  carrying  them  out  were  often  entirely 
inadequate,  and  sometimes  even  wholly  inapplicable.  His 
instructions  were  usually  imperious  and  laconic.  To  his 
commander-in-chief  in  Astrakhan  he  once  wrote:  "When 
fifteen  boats  arrive  from  Kazan,  you  will  sail  them  to 
Baku  and  sack  the  town."  His  instructions  to  Bering  are 
characteristic  of  his  condensed  and  irregular  style.  They 
were  written  by  himself,  in  December,  1724,  five  weeks 
before  his  death,  and  are  substantially  as  follows  :  "  I.  At 
Kamchatka  or  somewhere  else  two  decked  boats  are  to  be 
built.  II.  With  these  you  are  to  sail  northward  along  the 
coast,  and  as  the  end  of  the  coast  is  not  known  this  land 
is  undoubtedly  America.  III.  For  this  reason  you  are 
to  inquire  where  the  American  coast  begins,  and  go  to 
some  European  colony;  and  when  European  ships  are  seen 
you  are  to  ask  what  the  coast  is  called,  note  it  down,  make 
a  landing,  obtain  reliable  information,  and  then,  after 
having  charted  the  coast,  return. " 

After  West  Europe  for  two  centuries  had  wearied  itself 
with  the  question  of  a  Northeast  passage  and  made  strenu- 
ous efforts  to  navigate  the  famed  Strait  of  Anian,  Eussia 
undertook  the  task  in  a  practical  manner  and  went  in 
search  of  the  strait,  before  it  started  out  on  a  voyage 
around  the  northern  part  of  the  old  world. 


14  VITUS   BERING. 

Were  Asia  and  America  connected,  or  was  there  a 
strait  between  the  two  countries?  Was  there  a  North- 
west and  a  Northeast  passage  ?  It  was  these  great  and 
interesting  questions  that  were  to  be  settled  by  Bering's 
first  expedition.  Peter  himself  had  no  faith  in  a  strait. 
He  had,  however,  no  means  of  knowing  anything  about 
it,  for  at  his  death  the  east  coast  of  Asia  was  known  only 
as  far  as  the  island  of  Yezo.  The  Pacific  coast  of  America 
had  been  explored  and  charted  no  farther  than  Cape 
Blanco,  43°  north  latitude,  while  all  of  the  northern  por- 
tion of  the  Pacific,  its  eastern  and  western  coast-lines,  its 
northern  termination,  and  its  relation  to  the  polar  sea, 
still  awaited  its  discoverer. 

The  above-mentioned  ukase  shows  that  the  Czar's 
inquisitive  mind  was  dwelling  on  the  possibility  of  being 
able,  through  northeastern  Asia,  to  open  a  way  to  the  rich 
European  colonies  in  Central  America.  He  knew  neither 
the  enormous  extent  of  the  far  East  nor  the  vastness  of 
the  ocean  that  separated  it  from  the  Spanish  colonies. 
Yet  even  at  that  time,  various  representatives  of  the  great 
empire  living  in  northeastern  Siberia  had  some  knowledge 
of  the  relative  situation  of  the  two  continents  and  could 
have  given  Bering's  expedition  valuable  directions. 

Rumors  of  the  proximity  of  the  American  continent  to 
the  northeastern  corner  of  Asia  must  very  early  have  been 
transmitted  through  Siberia,  for  the  geographers  of  the 
sixteenth  century  have  the  relative  position  of  the  two 
continents  approximately  correct.  Thus  on  the  Barents 
map  of  1598,  republished  by  J.  J.  Pontanus  in  1611,  a 
large  continent  towers  above  northeastern  Asia  with 
the  superscription,  "America  Pars,"  the  two  countries 


BERING'S  FIRST  EXPEDITION.  15 

being  separated  by  the  Strait  of  Anian  *  (Fretum  Anian). 
On  a  map  by  Joducus  Hondius,  who  died  in  1611,  East 
Siberia  is  drawn  as  a  parallelogram  projecting  toward  the 
northeast,  and  directly  opposite  and  quite  near  the  north- 
east corner  of  this  figure  a  country  is  represented  with  the 
same  superscription.  This  is  found  again  in  the  map  by 
Gerhard  Mercator  which  accompanies  Nicolai  Witsen's 
"  Noord  en  Ost  Tartarye,"  1705,  and  in  several  other 
sixteenth  century  atlases.  It  is  quite  impossible  to  deter- 
mine how  much  of  this  apparent  knowledge  is  due  to 
vague  reports  combined  with  happy  guessing,  and  how 
much  to  a  practical  desire  for  such  a  passage  on  the  part 
of  European  navigators,  whose  expensive  polar  expeditions 
otherwise  would  be  folly.  This  much  is  certain,  however: 
Witsen  and -other  leading  geographers  based  their  views 
on  information  received  from  Siberia  and  Eussia.  f 

In  the  history  of  discoveries  the  spirit  of  human  enter- 
prise has  fought  its  way  through  an  incalculable  number 
of  mirages.  These  have  aroused  the  imagination,  caused 
agitations,  debates,  and  discussions,  but  have  usually 
veiled  an  earlier  period's  knowledge  of  the  question. 
There  are  many  re-discovered  countries  on  our  globe.  So 

*  In  Baron  A.  E.  Nordenskjold's  review  of  the  Danish  edition  of  this 
work  on  Bering  in  the  Journal  of  the  American  Geographical  Society,  Vol. 
XVII.,  p.  290,  he  says:  "In  Barents'  map  of  1598  there  is  not,  as  Mr.  Laurid- 
sen  seems  to  suppose,  anything  original  as  to  the  delineation  of  the  northern 
coast  of  Asia  and  the  relative  situation  of  Asia  and  America.  In  this  respect 
Barents'  map  is  only  a  reproduction  of  older  maps,  which,  with  regard  to 
the  delineation  of  the  northern  coast  of  Asia,  are  based  upon  pre-Colum- 
bian suppositions ;  and  these  again  rest  upon  the  story  told  by  Pliny  the 
Elder  in  the  '  Historia  Naturalis,'  L.  VII.,  13,  17,  about  the  northern  limit 
of  the  world  known  to  him,"  etc.  The  judicious  reader  can  not  fail  to  see 
that  the  renowned  author  here  shoots  far  beyond  the  mark,  for  Pliny  the 
Elder  can  hardly  be  supposed  to  have  had  any  knowledge  of  "America 
Pars."— Author's  Note  to  American  Edition. 

t  Note  2. 


16  VITUS    BERING. 

in  this  case.  The  northwestern  part  of  America  wholly 
disappeared  from  the  cartography  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, and  through  the  influence  of  Witsen's  and  Homann's 
later  maps  it  became  customary  to  represent  the  eastern 
coast  of  Asia  by  a  meridian  passing  a  little  east  of  Yakutsk, 
without  any  suggestions  whatever  in  regard  to  its  strongly 
marked  peninsulas  or  to  an  adjacent  western  continent. 
But  even  these  representations  were  originally  Eussian, 
and  are  undoubtedly  due  to  the  first  original  Russian 
atlas,  published  by  Remesoff.  They  finally  gave  way  to 
the  geographical  explorations  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
which  began  shortly  after  the  accession  of  Peter  the 
Great,  having  been  provoked  by  political  events  and 
conditions. 

By  the  treaty  of  Nertchinsk  in  1689  the  Yablonoi 
Mountains  were  established  as  the  boundary  line  between 
Russia  and  China.  By  this  means  the  way  to  the  fertile 
lands  of  Amoor  was  barred  to  that  indurate  caste  of 
Russian  hussars  and  Cossacks  who  had  conquered  for  the 
White  Czar  the  vast  tracts  of  Siberia.  A  second  time 
they  fell  upon  northeastern  Siberia,  pressing  their  way,  as 
before,  across  uninhabited  tundras  along  the  northern 
ocean,  and  thence  conquered  the  inhabited  districts 
toward  the  south.  They  discovered  the  island  of  Liak- 
hov,  penetrated  the  country  of  the  Chukchees,  Koriaks, 
and  Kamshadales,  and  at  the  Anadyr  River,  in  Deshneff's 
old  palisaded  fort,  they  found  that  point  of  support  from 
which  they  maintained  Russia's  power  in  the  extreme 
northeast.  In  this  way  the  Russians  learned  the  enormous 
extent  of  the  country;  but  as  they  had  no  exact  locations, 
they  formed  a  very  incorrect  opinion  of  its  outlines,  and 


BERING'S  FIKST  EXPEDITION.  17 

estimated  its  length  from  west  to  east  too  small  by  forty 
degrees. 

From  the  fort  on  the  Anadyr,  Kamchatka  was  con- 
quered in  the  first  years  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and 
from  here  came  the  first  information  concerning  America. 
In  1711  the  Cossack  Popoff  visited  the  Chukchee  penin- 
sula, and  here  he  heard  that  from  either  side  of  the 
peninsula,  both  from  the  "  Kolymaic  "  Sea  and  the  Gulf 
of  Anadyr,  an  island  could  be  seen  in  the  distance,  which 
the  Chukchees  called  "the  great  land/'  This  land  they 
said  they  could  reach  in  baidars  (boats  rowed  by  women) 
in  one  day.  Here  were  found  large  forests  of  pine, 
cedar,  and  other  trees,  and  also  many  different  kinds  of 
animals  not  found  in  their  country.  This  reliable  infor- 
mation concerning  America  seems  at  the  time  to  have 
been  known  in  other  parts  of  Siberia  only  in  the  way  of 
vague  reports,  and  was  soon  confused  with  descriptions  of 
islands  in  the  Arctic. 

Czar  Peter,  however,  soon  laid  his  adjusting  hand 
upon  these  groping  efforts.  By  the  aid  of  Swedish  pris- 
oners of  war,  he  opened  the  navigation  from  Okhotsk  to 
Kamchatka,  and  thus  avoided  the  circuitous  route  by  way 
of  the  Anadyr.  A  Cossack  by  the  name  of  Ivan  Kosyref- 
ski  (the  son  of  a  Polish  officer  in  Eussian  captivity)  was 
ordered  to  explore  the  peninsula  to  its  southern  ex- 
tremity, and  also  some  of  the  Kurile  Islands.  In  1719 
he  officially  despatched  the  surveyors  Yevrinoff  and 
Lushin  to  ascertain  whether  Asia  and  America  were  con- 
nected, but  secretly  he  instructed  them  to  go  to  the 
Kurile  Islands  to  search  for  precious  metals,  especially  a 
white  mineral  which  the  Japanese  were  said  to  obtain  in 


18  VITDS  BERING. 

large  quantities  from  the  fifth  or  sixth  island.  Through 
these  various  expeditions  there  was  collected  vast,  al- 
though unscientific,  materials  for  the  more  correct  under- 
standing of  the  geography  of  eastern  Asia,  the  Sea  of 
Okhotsk,  Kamchatka,  the  Kuriles,  and  Yezo.  Even  con- 
cerning the  Island  of  Nipon  (Hondo),  shipwrecked  Jap- 
anese had  given  valuable  information.  Simultaneously, 
the  northern  coast  about  the  mouth  of  the  Kolyma,  had 
been  explored  by  the  Cossacks  Viligin  and  Amossoff. 
Through  them  the  first  information  concerning  the  Bear 
Islands  and  Wrangel  Island  found  its  way  to  Yakutsk. 
The  Cossack  chief  Shestakoff,  who  had  traveled-  into  the 
northeastern  regions  toward  the  land  of  the  Chukchees, 
accepted  the  accounts  of  the  former  for  his  map,  but  as 
he  could  neither  read  nor  write,  matters  were  most  bewil- 
deringly  confused.  Yet  his  representations  were  later 
accepted  by  Strahlenberg  and  Joseph  de  Tlsle  in  their 
maps. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

BERING'S  KNOWLEDGE  OF  SIBERIAN  GEOGRAPHY. — TER- 
RORS OF  TRAVELING  IN  SIBERIA. — THE  EXPEDITION 
STARTS  OUT. — THE  JOURNEY  FROM  ST.  PETERSBURG 
TO  THE  PACIFIC. 

A  ND  now  the  question  is,  what  did  Bering  know  of 
-£*•  these  efforts  which  had  been  made  during  the 
decades  preceding  his  expedition,  and  which  in  spite  of 
their  unscientific  character,  were  nevertheless  of  such 
great  importance  in  order  to  be  able  to  initiate  one's  self 
in  the  geography  of  eastern  Asia  ?  In  the  first  place,  the 
surveyor  Lushin,  was  a  member  of  the  Bering  expedition, 
and  when  Bering,  in  the  summer  of  1726,  was  sojourning 
in  Yakutsk,  Shestakoff's  nephew,  who  had  accompanied 
his  uncle  on  his  expedition  against  the  Chukchees,  be- 
came an  attache  of  Bering's  expedition,  while  the  elder 
Shestakoff  had  gone  to  Russia  to  collect  means  for  the 
contemplated  military  expedition.  Furthermore,  Ivan 
Kosyrefski,  who  in  the  meantime  had  become  a  monk, 
was  also  staying  in  Yakutsk,  and  his  valuable  report  pre- 
served in  the  voivode's  (governor's)  office  was  now  sur- 
rendered to  Bering.  Thus  we  see  that  Bering  was  in 
personal  contact  with  the  men,  who,  in  the  decade  pre- 
ceding, were  the  chief  possessors  of  geographical  knowl- 
edge concerning  those  northeastern  regions. 

19 


20  VITUS   BERING. 

In  the  second  place,  he  received  in  Yakutsk  informa- 
tion concerning  DeshnefFs  journey  in  1648  from  the 
Kolyma  to  the  Anadyr  River.  Although  this  journey 
was  first  critically  discussed  by  Gr.  F.  Miiller,*  its  main 
features  were  nevertheless  well  known  in  Siberia,  and  are 
referred  to,  among  other  places,  in  Strahlenberg's  book, 
whence  the  results  appear  in  Bellini's  map  in  Peter 
Charlesvoix's  "  Histoire  du  Japan,"  published  in  1735. 
Unfortunately,  however,  Bering  seems  to  have  had  no 
knowledge  of  Popoff's  expedition  to  the  Chukchees  penin- 
sula and  his  information  concerning  the  adjacent  Ameri- 
can continent,  or  of  Strahlenberg's  outline  maps,  which 
were  not  published  until  after  his  departure  from  St. 
Petersburg. 

Bering's  two  expeditions  are  unique  in  the  history  of 
Arctic  explorations.  His  real  starting  point  was  on  the 
extremest  outskirts  of  the  earth,  where  only  the  hunter 
and  yassak-collector  had  preceded  him.  Kamchatka 
was  at  that  time  just  as  wild  a  region  as  Boothia  or 
the  coasts  of  Smith's  Sound  are  in  our  day,  and, 
practically  viewed,  it  was  far  more  distant  from  St. 
Petersburg  than  any  known  point  now  is  from  us. 
One  hundred  and  thirty  degrees — several  thousand 
miles — the  earth's  most  inhospitable  tracts,  the  coldest 
regions  on  the  globe,  mountains,  endless  steppes,  impen- 
etrable forests,  morasses,  and  fields  of  trackless  snow 
were  still  between  him  and  the  mouth  of  the  Kam- 
chatka River,  and  thither  he  was  to  lead,  not  a  small 
expedition,  but  an  enormous  provision  train  and  large 
quantities  of  material  for  ship-building.  On  the  journey, 

*Note8. 


BERING'S  FIRST  EXPEDITION.  21 

river-boats  had  to  be  built  by  the  score,  and  also  two 
ships.  Now  his  course  was  up  the  swift  streams  of 
Siberia,  and  now  on  horseback  or  in  sledges  drawn  by 
dogs  through  the  dreary  and  desolate  forests  of  the 
Yakuts  and  Tunguses.  He  employed  several  hundred 
laborers  and  twice  as  many  horses  to  do  work  which 
modern  ships  can  accomplish  in  a  few  weeks.  Franklin, 
Mackenzie,  Schwatka,  and  many  others  have  traversed 
vast  tracts  of  the  Arctic  regions,  but  their  expeditions 
in  light  sledges  can  not  be  compared  with  those  burden- 
some transports  which  Bering  and  his  men  dragged 
from  the  Gulf  of  Finland  to  the  shores  of  the  Pacific. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  year  1725  the  expedition 
was  ready  to  start  out  from  St.  Petersburg.  The  offi- 
cers were  the  two  Danes,  Vitus  Bering,  captain  and 
chief,  and  Martin  Spangberg,  lieutenant  and  second  in 
command,  and  also  the  following:  Lieut.  Alexei  Chi- 
rikoff,  Second  Lieut.  Peter  Chaplin,  the  cartographers 
Luskin  and  Patiloff,  the  mates,  Richard  Engel  and 
George  Morison,  Dr.  Niemann,  and  Rev.  Ilarion.*  The 
subordinates  were  principally  sailors,  carpenters,  sail- 
makers,  blacksmiths,  and  other  mechanics. 

Peter  the  Great  died  Jan.  28,  1725 ;  f  but  a  part 
of  the  expedition  under  the  command  of  Lieut.  Chiri- 
koff  had  already  started  on  the  24th ;  Bering  followed 
Feb.  5.  They  passed  the  whole  of  the  first  summer 
in  toilsome  expeditions  overland  and  on  rivers  in 
western  Siberia.  March  16,  they  arrived  at  Tobolsk, 
whence,  in  May,  the  journey  was  continued  with  four 
rafts  and  seven  boats  by  way  of  the  rivers  Irtish,  Obi, 

*  Note  4.         t  Here  as  elsewhere,  Old  Style. 


22  VITtJS  BERING. 

Ket,  Yenisei,  Tunguska,  and  Him,  through  regions 
where  there  was  scarcely  a  Eussian  isba,  on  rivers  which 
were  dangerous  on  account  of  hidden  rocks  and  skerries, 
and  where  progress  was  constantly  interrupted  by  the 
transporting  that  had  to  be  done  between  the  streams. 
September  29,  the  expedition  arrived  at  the  town  of 
Ilimsk  and  had  to  pass  the  winter  there.  Meanwhile, 
however,  Lieut.  Chaplin  had,  in  the  spring,  been  sent 
in  advance  to  Yakutsk,  in  order,  at  the  voivode's  (gov- 
ernor's) to  hasten  the  preparations  for  transportation  in 
the  direction  of  Okhotsk,  whither  he  was  to  send  a 
small  command  who  were  to  fell  trees  and  begin  the 
work  of  shipbuilding.  Bering  *  himself  went  to  Irkutsk 
to  obtain  from  the  governor  there  information  concern- 
ing the  climate  and  physical  features  of  Eastern  Siberia, 
the  modes  of  travel,  and  means  of  transportation  in 
that  distant  and  little  known  country.  Spangberg  was 
sent  with  mechanics  and  soldiers  to  the  Kut,  a  tribu- 
tary of  the  Lena,  for  the  purpose  of  cutting  timber  and 
building  vessels  for  the  voyages  to  be  made  in  the  spring. 
At  Ustkutsk  there  were  built  in  all  fifteen  barges 
(about  45  feet  long,  12  feet  wide  and  15  inches  deep)  and 
fourteen  boats.  On  May  8,  1726,  Spangberg  sailed  for 
Yakutsk,  and  somewhat  later  Chirikoff  started  off  with 
the  rear.  By  the  middle  of  June,  the  expedition  was 
gathered  at  the  capital  of  East  Siberia,  which  at  that 
time  had  three  hundred  houses.  Here  Bering  remained 
until  the  16th  of  August,  busily  engaged  in  making 
preparations  for  the  difficult  journey  eastward.  He 
had  made  two  thousand  leathern  sacks  for  transporting 

»  Note  5. 


BERING'S  FIRST  EXPEDITION*  23 

flour  to  Okhotsk,  and  gave  the  voivode  orders  to  keep 
in  readiness  six  hundred  horses  to  forward  other  neces- 
saries for  the  expedition. 

From  this  point  the  expedition  traveled  an  entirely 
untrodden  path,  and  the  1026  versts  (685  miles)  to 
Okhotsk  were  a  severe  test  of  its  endurance.  Even  in 
our  day,  this  journey  can  be  made  only  under  the  great- 
est difficulties.  The  region  is  rough  and  mountainous, 
and  intersected  by  deep  streams  without  bridges  or 
other  means  of  crossing.  The  traveler  must  traverse 
dangerous  swamps  and  tundras,  or  cut  his  way  through 
dense  forests.  In  the  winter  the  difficulties  are  doubled. 
Horses,  reindeer,  and  dogs  soon  become  exhausted  on 
these  unbroken  roads.  A  space  cleared  in  the  snow, 
where  the  cooking,  eating,  and  sleeping  are  done,  is  the 
only  shelter.  The  temperature  falls  to  —  46°  R.  (71° 
Fahrenheit).  Clothing  must  be  changed  daily  to  avoid 
dampness,  and  when  the  poorgas  (blizzards)  sweep  over 
the  snowy  wastes,  a  few  steps  from  camp  are  often 
fatal.  This  is  a  description  of  that  region  in  our  day, 
and  it  was  hardly  any  more  inviting  over  a  hundred 
and  fifty  years  ago. 

It  was  found  necessary  to  divide  the  expedition. 
The  branching  tributaries  of  the  Lena  offered  possi- 
bilities for  transportation  which  had  to  be  taken  advan- 
tage of.  Hence,  as  early  as  July  7,  Lieut.  Spangberg 
was  sent  by  river  with  thirteen  rafts  loaded  with  materi- 
als, and  a  force  of  204  workmen  to  reach  Yudomskaya 
Krest  by  way  of  the  tributaries  Aldan,  Maya,  and 
Yudoma,  and  thence  across  a  ridge  down  to  the  river 
Urak,  which  flows  into  the  Sea  of  Okhotsk.  The  over- 


24  VITUS  SEEING. 

land  expeditions,  consisting  of  800  horses,  were  sent  in 
various  directions.  Bering  himself  started  out  on 
August  16,  with  200  horses,  and  after  a  journey  of 
forty-five  days,  reached  Okhotsk.  The  journey  was  a 
very  difficult  one.  The  horses  sought  in  vain  for  food 
under  the  deep  snow.  Scores  of  them  were  overcome 
by  hunger  and  exhaustion.  The  severe  cold  caused  the 
forces  much  suffering  and  hardship,  nor  did  they  find 
but  few  comforts  when  they  reached  Okhotsk  in  the 
latter  part  of  October.  The  town  consisted  of  only 
eleven  huts,  with  ten  Russian  families,  who  supported 
themselves  by  fishing.  Here,  too,  many  of  the  horses 
died  for  lack  of  food,  and  a  herd  of  heifers  sent  there 
by  Shestakoff  was  lost  from  the  same  cause.  Only 
one  survived  the  winter.  It  was  now  necessary  to  build 
huts  for  the  winter.  The  whole  of  November  was  spent 
in  felling  trees,  and  not  until  December  2,  could 
Bering  take  shelter  under  a  roof  of  his  own.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  ship  for  the  expedition  was  on  the 
stocks,  and  in  spite  of  all  troubles  and  privations, 
Bering  found  time  to  push  forward  vigorously  its 
construction. 

Spangberg,  however,  fared  worst  of  all.  Winter  took 
him  by  surprise  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  miles 
from  Yudomskaya  Krest,  the  nearest  inhabited  place, 
in  an  entirely  barren  and  swampy  region  where  he  could 
not  obtain  the  slightest  assistance.  His  boats  and  the 
bulk  of  their  provisions  had  to  be  left  at  the  confluence 
of  the  Yorbovaya  and  the  Yudoma,  while  he  and  his 
men,  with  what  provisions  they  could  take  with  them 
on  the  hand-sleds,  started  out  for  Okhotsk  on  foot. 


BERING'S  FIRST  EXPEDITION.  25 

Meanwhile,  the  severity  of  the  winter  increased,  the 
mercury  congealed,  and  the  snow  was  soon  six  feet 
deep.  This  forced  them  to  leave  their  sleds,  and  for 
eight  full  weeks  after  November  4,  these  travelers 
sought  shelter  every  night  in  the  snows  of  Siberia, 
wrapped  in  all  the  furs  they  could  possibly  get  hold  of. 
Their  provisions  were  soon  exhausted,  famine  soon 
became  a  companion  to  cold,  and  matters  even  came 
to  such  a  pass  that  they  were  compelled  to  try  to 
maintain  life  by  gnawing  "straps,  leathern  bags,  and 
shoes."  They  would  surely  have  starved  to  death,  had 
they  not  accidentally  happened  to  strike  Bering's  route, 
where  they  found  dead  horses  and  a  few  hundred-weights 
of  flour.  December  21,  Bering  received  from  Spang- 
berg  a  message,  relating  that  he  had  started  for  Yud- 
omskaya  Krest  with  ninety-six  sledges,  and  that  he  had 
left  the  boats  in  charge  of  a  mate  and  six  guards. 
Bering  immediately  dispatched  ten  sledges  with  pro- 
visions for  his  relief,  and  on  the  succeeding  day,  thirty- 
seven  sledges  with  thirty-nine  men.  January  6,  1727, 
Spangberg  reached  Okhotsk,  and  a  few  days  later  his 
whole  command  had  arrived,  eighteen  of  whom  were 
now  sick.  Twice  during  the  course  of  the  winter,  Spang- 
berg and  Chaplin  were  obliged  to  repeat  this  journey 
to  rescue  the  materials  at  the  Yudoma.  Not  until 
midsummer,  1727,  did  the  rear  under  the  command  of 
Chirikoff  arrive  from  Yakutsk. 

And  yet  Bering  was  far  from  the  place  where  his 
work  of  discovery  could  begin.  On  June  8,  the  new 
ship  Fortuna  was  launched  and  equipped  for  the 
prospective  voyage.  Moreover,  the  ship  that  had  been 


26  VITUS  BERING. 

used  in  exploring  the  Sea  of  Okhotsk  in  1716  arrived, 
and  after  thorough  repairs  was  put  into  the  service. 

Bering's  next  objective  point  was  the  mouth  of  the 
river  Bolshoya  in  southwestern  Kamchatka.  From  the 
mouth  of  this  river,  which  is  navigable  for  small  ves- 
sels, he  took  the  Cossack  route  to  the  interior,  first  up 
the  Bolshoya  to  the  tributary  Byistraya,  then  up  this 
to  within  forty  versts  of  its  source,  thence  across  a  port- 
age to  the  Kamchatka,  the  mouth  of  which  was  his 
real  objective  point.  From  this  position  he  would  be 
able  to  fall  back  upon  the  Russian  colony,  which  com- 
prised a  number  of  unimportant  stockaded  forts  on 
the  Bolshoya  and  Kamchatka  rivers,  and  could 
also  gain  support  from  that  control  of  the  natives 
which  was  exercised  from  this  point.  This  change  of 
base  could  have  been  much  more  easily  and  quickly 
accomplished  by  sailing  around  the  Kamchatka  Penin- 
sula, but  this  was  something  that  had  never  been  done. 
No  accurate  information  was  to  be  had  in  regard  to  the 
waters,  or  to  the  location  of  any  place.  Possibly  Bering 
had  not  as  yet  been  able  to  disabuse  his  mind  of  the 
prevalent  delusions  concerning  the  great  extent  of  Kam- 
chatka. In  the  second  place,  he  was  no  doubt  unwilling 
to  trust  his  invaluable  stores  in  the  inferior  vessels 
built  at  Okhotsk.  Hence  he  took  the  old  route. 

July  1,  Spangberg  sailed  with  the  Fortuna  for 
Bolsheretsk,  accompanied  by  thirteen  Siberian  traders. 
Two  days  later  Chirikoff  brought  up  the  rear  from 
Yakutsk.  Somewhat  later,  the  quartermaster  arrived 
with  110  horses  and  200  sacks  of  flour.  A  week  later 
63  horses  more  arrived,  on  July  20,  one  soldier  with 


FIRST  EXPEDITION.  27 

80  horses,  and  by  the  30th  over  150  horses  more,  and 
also  50  oxen. 

August  11,  Spangberg  returned  from  his  voyage  to 
the  Bolshoya  River,  and  on  the  19th  the  whole  com- 
mand went  on  board, — some  on  the  Fortuna  and 
others  on  the  old  vessel.  Their  destination  was  the 
Bolshoya,  situated  650  miles  from  Okhotsk,  where  they 
arrived  September  4.  Here  the  cargoes  were  trans- 
ferred to  boats  and,  in  the  course  of  the  month  of 
September,  brought  to  the  fort,  a  simple  log  fortress 
with  seventeen  Russian  dwellings  and  a  chapel,  twenty 
miles  from  the  sea.  It  took  the  whole  winter  to  trav- 
erse, first  with  boats  and  later  with  sledges,  the  585 
miles  across  Kamchatka,  from  Bolsheretsk  to  the  lower 
Kamchatka  fort.  Under  the  greatest  difficulties,  the 
expedition  now  followed  the  course  of  the  Kamchatka 
River,  camping  at  night  in  the  snow,  and  enduring 
many  a  fierce  struggle  with  the  inclement  weather. 
The  natives  were  summoned  from  far  and  near  to  assist 
in  transporting  their  goods,  but  the  undertaking  proved 
fatal  to  many  of  them.  Finally  on  March  11,  1728, 
Bering  reached  his  destination,  the  lower  Kamchatka 
Ostrog,*  where  he  found  forty  huts  scattered  along  the 
banks  of  the  river,  a  fort,  and  a  church.  A  handful 
of  Cossacks  lived  here.  They  occupied  huts  built  above 
the  surface  of  the  ground.  They  did  not  always  eat 
their  fish  raw,  but  in  other  respects  lived  like  the 
natives,  and  were  in  no  regard  much  more  civilized  than 
they.  The  fort  was  located  twenty  miles  from  the  sea, 
surrounded  by  forests  of  larch,  which  yielded  excellent 

*  An  Ostrog  is  a  stockaded  post  or  village. 


28  VITUS   BERING. 

material  for  ship-building.     From  this  point  the  explor- 
ing party  proper  was  to  start  out.* 


•Note  6. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE    BUILDING    OF    THE     GABRIEL — THE    DISCOVERY    OF 
BERING   STRAIT. 

T3ERING  now  found  himself  upon  the  bleak  shores  of 
•f-r  an  Arctic  sea,  with  no  other  resources  than  those  he 
had  brought  with  him,  or  could  extort  from  these  barren 
tracts.  He  again  began  the  work  of  ship-building,  and 
in  the  summer  of  1728,  a  ship  called  the  Gabriel,  staunch 
enough  to  weather  a  heavy  sea,  was  launched.  The 
timber  for  this  vessel  had  been  hauled  to  the  ship-yard  by 
dogs ;  the  tar  they  had  prepared  themselves,  while  rig- 
ging, cable,  and  anchors  had  been  dragged  nearly  two 
thousand  miles  through  one  of  the  most  desolate  regions 
of  the  earth.  And  as  for  the  provisions,  they  would  cer- 
tainly strike  terror  in  the  hearts  of  Arctic  explorers  of 
to-day.  "  Fish  oil  was  his  butter,  and  dried  fish  his  beef 
and  pork.  Salt  he  was  obliged  to  get  from  the  sea,"  and 
according  to  the  directions  of  the  Cossacks  he  distilled 
spirits  from  "sweet  straw."*  Thus  supplied  with  a 
year's  provisions,  he  started  upon  his  voyage  of  discovery 
along  an  unknown  coast  and  on  an  unknown  sea.  "It  is 
certain,"  says  Dr.  Campbell  concerning  Bering  at  this 
stage,  "  that  no  person  better  fitted  for  this  undertaking 
could  have  been  found ;  no  difficulty,  no  danger  daunted 

*Note  7. 
29 


30  VITUS   SEEING. 

him.  With  untiring  industry  and  almost  incredible 
patience  he  overcame  those  difficulties  which  to  anyone 
else  would  have  seemed  insurmountable/* 

On  July  9,  the  Gabriel  started  down  the  river,  and  on 
the  13th  the  sails  were  hoisted.  The  crew  numbered  forty- 
four  men:  namely,  one  captain,  two  lieutenants,  one  sec- 
ond lieutenant,  one  physician,  one  quartermaster,  eight 
sailors,  one  saddler,  one  rope-maker,  five  carpenters,  one 
bailiff,  two  Cossacks,  nine  soldiers,  six  servants,  one 
drummer,  and  two  interpreters.  Bering's  point  of 
departure  was  the  lower  Kamchatka  fort,  situated  160° 
50'  east  of  Greenwich,  the  variation  of  the  compass  being 
13°  10'  B.  The  latitude  of  the  cape  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Kamchatka  Eiver  was  determined  as  56°  3'  N.,  which  agrees 
with  the  observations  made  by  Cook,  who  was  very  near 
this  point  on  his  last  voyage.  The  day  was  reckoned  from 
12  o'clock  at  noon,  on  which  account  his  dating  does  not 
correspond  with  that  of  civil  time ;  hence,  the  16th  of 
August  with  him  began  on  the  15th,  at  noon.  The  mile 
of  the  journal  is  the  Italian  mile,  which  is  somewhat 
longer  than  the  English  mile.  Bering's  course  was  nearly 
all  the  time  along  the  coast,  in  from  nine  to  twelve 
fathoms  of  water,  and  usually  with  land  in  sight  to  the 
north  and  west.  On  July  27,  they  passed  Cape  St. 
Thaddeus  at  a  distance  of  three  miles,  and  here  the 
sea  seemed  fairly  alive  with  spotted  whales,  seals,  sea-lions, 
and  dolphins.  After  having  sailed  past  the  Anadyr 
River,  without  quite  being  able  to  find  their  bearings  in 
regions  of  which  they  had  not  a  single  astronomical 
determination,  and  where  they  were  not  successful  in  find- 
ing any  natives,  they  finally,  on  July  31,  saw  land  extend- 


BERING'S  FIRST  EXPEDITION.  31 

ing  along  the  northern  horizon,  and  soon  afterwards 
sailed  into  the  Bay  of  the  Holy  Cross  (St.  Kresta  Bay) 
where  the  Gabriel  spent  two  days  under  sail  in  search 
of  fresh  water  and  a  place  to  anchor.  On  the  3d  of 
August  the  latitude  was  determined  as  60°  50'  N., 
whereupon  the  voyage  was  continued  to  the  southeast 
along  the  high  and  rocky  coast,  where  every  indentation 
was  very  carefully  explored.  August  6,  the  Gabriel  lay 
in  the  Bay  of  Preobrashensky,  and  on  the  7th,  Chaplin 
was  sent  ashore  to  obtain  water  from  a  mountain  stream. 
On  his  way  he  found  huts,  where  there  had  quite  recently 
been  Chukchees,  and  in  various  places  he  found  foot- 
paths, but  met  no  human  beings.  On  the  8th,  Bering  sailed 
along  the  coast  in  a  south  southeasterly  direction.  At  7 
o'clock,  a  boat  containing  eight  men  was  seen  rowing 
toward  the  vessel.  They  did  not,  however,  dare  to 
approach  the  Gabriel,  but  at  last  one  of  the  number 
jumped  into  the  water,  and  on  two  inflated  seal  bladders 
swam  out  to  the  ship,  and  announced,  by  the  aid  of  the 
two  Koriak  interpreters,  that  they  were  Chukchees,  and 
that  their  people  lived  along  the  coast,  that  they  knew 
the  Russians  well,  that  the  Anadyr  River  lay  far  to  the 
west,  that  the  continent  extended  in  the  same  direction, 
and  that  they  would  soon  get  sight  of  an  island.  The 
Koriaks,  however,  understood  his  language  only  imper- 
fectly, and  the  journal  regrets  that  they  were  on  this 
account  prevented  from  obtaining  further  important 
information.  Bering  gave  him  some  small  presents  and 
sent  him  back  to  try  to  persuade  his  companions  to  come 
on  board.  They  approached  the  vessel,  but  suddenly 
turned  and  disappeared.  The  longitude  was  64°  41'. 


32  VITUS  BERING. 

August  9,  Cape  Chukotskoi  was  doubled,  an  import- 
ant event  in  the  history  of  this  expedition, — an  event 
which  Muller,  in  order  to  make  results  fit  into  his  frame, 
has  not  even  mentioned.  The  name,  it  is  true,  is  not 
found  in  the  journal,  but  it  appears  on  Bering's  chart  in 
Du  Halde's  work,  which  Muller  knew.  Bering  deter- 
mined the  southern  extremity  of  the  cape  to  be  64° 
18',  Cook  64°  13'. 

August  11,  the  weather  was  calm  and  cloudy.  At 
2  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  they  saw  an  island  toward  the 
southeast,  which  Bering,  in  honor  of  the  day,  called  St. 
Lawrence.  At  noon  the  latitude  was  found  to  be  64° 
20',  and  hence  the  Gabriel  was  in  the  strait  between 
Asia  and  America. 

August  12,  there  was  a  light  breeze  and  cloudy  weather. 
On  this  day  they  sailed  sixty-nine  miles,  but  the  differ- 
ence in  latitude  was  only  29'.  At  sunset  the  longi- 
tude was  computed  by  the  aid  of  the  variation  of  the 
needle  to  be  25°  31'  east  of  the  lower  Kamchatka  fort, 
or  187°  21'  east  of  Greenwich. 

August  13,  a  fresh  breeze  and  cloudy.  Bering  sailed 
during  the  whole  day  with  land  in  sight,  and  the  differ- 
ence in  latitude  was  only  78'. 

August  14,  weather  calm  and  cloudy.  They  sailed  29 
miles  +  8f  miles  for  the  current.  The  course  of  the 
current  was  from  south  southeast  to  north  northwest. 
At  noon  the  latitude  was  66°  41'  when  they  saw  high 
land  astern,  and  three  hours  later  high  mountains.  (East 
Cape  is  66°  6'  N.  lat.  and  190°  21'  east  of  Greenwich.) 

August  15,  gentle  wind,  cloudy  weather.  From  noon 
until  3  o'clock  Bering  sailed  to  the  northeast,  and  after 


BERING'S  FIKST  EXPEDITION.  33 

having  sailed  seven  miles  in  this  direction,  he  determined 
to  turn  back.  At  3  o'clock  he  announced,  that  as  he 
had  now  accomplished  his  task,  it  was  his  duty,  accord- 
ing to  his  orders,  to  return.  His  bearings  were  then 
67°  18'  N.  latitude,  and  30°  19'  east  of  the  Kamchatka 
fort,  or  193°  7'  east  of  Greenwich.  In  Du  Halde,  where 
Bering  himself  gives  his  reasons,  it  is  stated  :  "  This  was 
Captain  Bering's  most  northerly  point.  He  thought  that 
he  had  accomplished  his  task  and  obeyed  orders,  especially 
as  he  no  longer  could  see  the  coast  extending  toward  the 
north  in  the  same  way.  (Surtout,  parcequ'il  ne  voyait 
plus  que  les  terres  continuassent  de  courier  de  meme  du  cote 
du  Nord.")  Moreover,  if  they  should  go  farther,  he  feared, 
in  case  they  should  have  adverse  winds  that  they  might 
not  be  able  to  return  to  Kamchatka  before  the  end  of 
the  summer,  and  how  were  they  to  be  able  to  pass  the 
winter  in  sqch  a  climate,  liable  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  a 
people  who  had  not  yet  been  subjugated,  and  who  were 
human  only  in  outward  appearance.* 

When  Bering  turned  about,  his  command  was  to  steer 
south  by  west,  half  west.  In  this  course  they  sailed  with 
the  wind  at  a  rate  of  more  than  seven  miles  an  hour.  At 
9  o'clock  in  the  morning,  they  saw  a  high  mountain  on 
the  right,  where  Chukchees  lived,  and  to  the  left  and 
seaward  they  saw  an  island,  which  in  honor  of  the  day 
they  called  Diomede.f  This  day  they  sailed  115  miles, 
and  reached  latitude  66°  2'. 

On  August  17,  Bering  again  passed  the  narrowest  part 
of  the  strait.  The  weather  was  cloudy,  there  was  a  fresh 
breeze,  and  they  sailed  along  the  Asiatic  coast,  where 

*  Note  8.         t  Note  9. 


34  VITUS  SEEING. 

they  saw  many  Chukchees,  and  at  two  places  they  saw 
dwellings.  The  natives  fled  at  the  sight  of  the  ship.  At 
3  o'clock  very  high  land  and  mountains  were  passed. 
With  a  very  good  breeze,  they  had  been  enabled  to  sail 
164  miles,  and  an  observation  showed  that  they  were  in 
latitude  64°  27'.  According  to  this,  Bering  was  out  of 
the  strait  and  getting  farther  and  farther  away  from  the 
American  continent. 

August  18,  the  wind  was  light  and  the  weather  clear. 
On  the  20th,  beyond  the  Island  of  St.  Lawrence,  he  met 
other  Chukchees,  who  told  him  that  they  had  made  jour- 
neys from  the  Kolyma  River  westward  to  Olenek,  but 
that  they  never  went  by  sea.  They  knew  of  the  Anadyr 
fort  which  lay  farther  to  the  south;  on  this  coast  there 
dwelt  people  of  their  race;  others  they  did  not  know. 

After  a  storm  on  the  31st  of  August,  in  which  the 
main  and  foresail  were  rent,  the  anchor  cable  was  broken 
and  the  anchor  lost,  they  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Kam- 
chatka at  5  o'clock  P.  M.,  September  2,  1728. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  TASK  ASSIGNED  BY  PETER  THE  GREAT  ACCOM- 
PLISHED. —  HISTORY  OF  THE  CARTOGRAPHY  OP  EAST 
SIBERIA.  —  CAPTAIN  COOK'S  DEFENSE  OF  BERING. 


turned  back  because  he  felt  convinced  that 
•*—  *  he  had  sailed  around  the  northeastern  corner  of 
Asia,  and  had  demonstrated  that  in  this  part  of  the 
earth  the  two  great  continents  were  not  connected. 
The  third  point  in  his  orders  was  of  course  dropped, 
for  along  the  Siberian  coasts  of  the  Arctic  sea,  he  could 
expect  to  find  neither  European  colonists  nor  ships  ; 
hence,  further  search  with  this  object  in  view  would  be 
vain.  He  had  a  very  clear  idea  of  the  general  outline 
of  eastern  Asia,  and  this  knowledge  was  based  upon  the 
facts  of  his  own  voyage,  the  information  he  had  ob- 
tained in  Yakutsk  about  Deshneff's  expedition  from 
Kolyma  to  Anadyr,  and  upon  the  account  which  the 
natives  gave  of  the  country  and  of  their  commercial 
journeys  westward  to  Olenek. 

He  was,  moreover,  convinced  that  he  had  given  the 
search  for  a  Northeast  passage  a  rational  foundation, 
and  his  thoughts  on  this  subject  are  found  clearly  pre- 
sented in  a  correspondence  from  St.  Petersburg  to  a 
Copenhagen  periodical,  Nye  Tidende,  in  1730,  whence 
the  following  :  "  Bering  has  ascertained  that  there  really 

35 


36  VITU8   BERING. 

does  exist  a  Northeast  passage,  and  that  from  the  Lena 
River  it  is  possible,  provided  one  is  not  prevented  by 
polar  ice,  to  sail  to  Kamchatka,  and  thence  to  Japan, 
China,  and  the  East  Indies."  This  correspondence, 
which  appeared  immediately  after  his  return  on  the 
first  of  March,  1730,  originated  either  with  him  or  with 
some  of  his  immediate  friends,  and  shows  that  he  fully 
appreciated  the  extent  of  his  discovery.*  It  was  this 
conviction  that  led  him  to  undertake  his  next  great 
enterprise,  the  navigating  and  charting  of  the  North- 
east passage  from  the  Obi  River  to  Japan, — from  the 
known  West  to  the  known  East. 

Unfortunately,  however,  the  principal  result  of  his 
work  remains  as  above  stated.  An  unhappy  fate  pre- 
vented him  from  discovering  the  adjacent  American 
continent.  At  the  narrowest  place,  Bering  Strait  is  39 
miles  wide;  and  hence,  under  favorable  conditions,  it  is 
possible  to  see  simultaneously  the  coast-lines  of  both 
continents.f  Cook,  more  fortunate  than  Bering,  was 
enabled  to  do  this,  for  when  he  approached  the  strait, 
the  sun  dispersed  the  fog,  and  at  one  glance  both  con- 
tinents were  seen.  With  Bering  it  was  otherwise,  for, 
as  we  have  seen  from  his  journal,  the  weather  during 
the  whole  time  that  he  was  in  the  strait,  both  on  the 
voyage  up  and  back,  was  dark  and  cloudy.  Not  until 
the  18th  of  August  did  the  weather  clear  up,  but  as 
the  Gabriel  was  sailing  before  a  sharp  breeze,  he  was 
then  too  far  away  to  see  land  on  the  other  side. 
"This/*  Von  Baer  exclaims,  "must  be  called  bad 
luck." 

*  Note  10.          t  Note  11. 


BERING'S  FIRST  EXPEDITION.  3? 

We  may  possibly  feel  inclined  to  blame  Bering  for 
his  haste.  Why  did  he  not  cruise  about  in  the  region 
of  65°  to  67°  north  latitude  ?  A  few  hours'  sailing  would 
have  brought  him  to  the  American  coast.  This  objec- 
tion may,  however,  prove  to  be  illegitimate.  The  geo- 
graphical explorer,  as  well  as  every  other  investigator, 
has  a  right  to  be  judged  from  the  standpoint  of  his 
times,  and  on  the  basis  of  his  own  premises.  Bering 
had  no  apprehension  of  an  adjacent  continent,  partly 
on  account  of  the  Koriak  interpreter's  imperfect  knowl- 
edge of  the  Chukchee  tongue,  partly  as  a  result  of  the 
fact  that  the  knowledge  of  the  times  concerning 
the  western  coast  of  America  was  very  meager.  This 
knowledge  extended  no  farther  than  to  43°  north 
latitude, — to  Cape  Blanco  in  California;  hence,  in  the 
nature  of  things,  he  could  not  be  expected  to  search 
for  land  which  presumably  he  knew  nothing  of.  But 
here  we  must  also  take  into  consideration  his  poor 
equipment.  His  cables,  ropes,  and  sails  were  in  such 
bad  condition,  after  the  three  years'  transport  through 
Siberia,  that  he  could  not  weather  a  storm,  and  his 
stock  of  provisions  was  running  so  low  that  it  put  an 
unpleasant  check  on  any  inclination  to  overreach  his 
main  object,  and  this,  as  we  have  seen,  did  not  include 
the  exploration  of  an  American  coast,  if  separated  from 
Asia.  To  explore  a  new  coast  thirteen  degrees  of  lati- 
tude and  thirty  degrees  of  longitude  in  extent,  and  m£ke 
such  a  chart  of  it  that  its  outline  is  comparatively  cor- 
rect, and  which,  for  a  long  time,  was  far  superior  to  any- 
thing made  afterward,*  ought  certainly  to  be  considered 


*  Note  12. 


38  VITUS  BERING. 

a  splendid  result,  when  we  remember  that  the  objects  of 
the  expedition  were  entirely  of  a  nautico-geographical 
character.  Bering's  determinations  of  longitude  in  East 
Siberia  were  the  first  made  there,  and  through  them  it 
was  ascertained  that  the  country  extended  thirty  de- 
grees farther  toward  the  east  than  was  supposed.  His 
observations  were  based  on  two  eclipses  of  the  moon  in 
Kamchatka  in  the  years  1728  and  1729,*  and  although 
they  were  not  entirely  accurate,  they  vary  so  little,  that 
the  general  position  of  the  country  was  established. 
And  hence  we  are  not  surprised  to  find  that  no  one  has 
given  Bering  a  better  testimonial  than  his  great  and 
more  fortunate  successor,  Captain  Cook.  He  says:  f  "In 
justice  to  the  memory  of  Bering,  I  must  say,  that  he  has 
delineated  the  coast  very  well,  and  fixed  the  latitude  and 
longitude  of  the  points  better  than  could  be  expected 
from  the  methods  he  had  to  go  by."  Yes,  Captain  Cook 
found  it  necessary  to  defend  Bering  against  the  only 
official  report  of  the  expedition  which  at  that  time  had 
appeared,  and  more  than  once  he  puts  in  proper  relief 
Bering's  sober  investigations,  as  compared  with  Miiller's 
fancies  and  guesses.  Before  the  time  of  Cook,  it  had 
been  customary  to  depreciate  Bering's  work ;  J  but  since 
that  time  Admiral  Liitke,  a  hundred  years  after  Bering's 
death,  has  defended  his  reputation,  and  Berch,  who  very 
carefully  perused  his  journals,  repeatedly  expresses  his 
admiration  for  the  accuracy  with  which  the  nautical 
computations  were  made.  This  statement  is  made  after 
a  comparison  of  results  with  those  obtained  by  Captain 
Cook. 

*  Note  13.         t  Note  14.         $  Note  15. 


BERING'S  FIRST  EXPEDITION.  39 

Furthermore,  as  has  already  been  said,  Bering  was 
not  aware  of  the  fact  that  he  was  sailing  in  a  compara- 
tively narrow  sound, — in  that  strait  which  has  carried 
his  name  to  posterity.  He  saw  nothing  beyond  the 
nearest  of  the  Diomede  Islands,  that  is  to  say,  the 
middle  of  the  strait ;  and  this  island,  as  we  have  seen, 
is  mentioned  in  the  journal  and  on  the  chart,  with  the 
latitude  correctly  given.*  His  name  was  not  immedi- 
ately associated  with  these  regions.  The  first  place,  so 
far  as  I  am  able  to  ascertain,  that  the  name  Bering 
Strait  appears,  is  on  a  map  which  accompanies  Rob.  de 
Vangondie's  "  Memoir e  sur  Us  pays  de  I'Asie,"  Paris, 
1774.  But  it  is  especially  to  Captain  Cook's  high-mind- 
edness  that  the  name  was  retained,  for  it  was  used  in 
his  great  work.  Later,  Reinholdt  Forster,  who  charac- 
terizes Bering  as  "a  meritorious  and  truly  great  navi- 
gator," triumphantly  fought  Ms  cause  against  Biisching 
and  others,  j; 

But  even  at  the  present  time,  an  interesting  misunder- 
standing attaches  to  this  part  of  Bering's  history  and  the 
cartography  of  these  regions.  In  our  Arctic  literature 
and  on  all  our  polar  maps,  it  is  asserted  that  Vitus  Bering, 
on  his  first  voyage,  turned  back  at  Cape  Serdze  Kamen. 
That  such  a  supposition  has  been  able  to  maintain  itself, 
only  shows  how  little  the  original  sources  of  his  history 
are  known  in  West  Europe,  and  how  unheeded  they  have 
been  in  Russia.  About  a  hundred  years  ago  the  Danish 
Admiral  De  Lowenorn  and  the  English  hydrographer  A. 
Dalrymple  showed  that  Frobisher  Strait  had  by  some 
ignorant  hand  been  located  on  the  east  coast  of  Greenland, 

*  Note  16.          t  Note  17. 


40  VITUS   BERING. 

while  it  was  in  reality  located  on  the  coast  of  Meta 
incognita  beyond  Davis  Strait.*  A  similar  error  presents 
itself  in  connection  with  Serdze  Kamen.  It  can  be  his- 
torically established  that  this  name  has  been  the  object  of 
a  double  change,  and  that  the  present  Serdze  Kamen 
on  the  northern  coast  of  the  Chukchee  peninsula,  has 
nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  history  of  Bering  and 
his  voyage.  This  misunderstanding  is,  however,  not  of 
recent  date,  for  as  early  as  in  the  first  decade  after  the 
voyage,  it  was  assumed  that  Bering's  course,  even  after 
he  had  passed  East  Cape,  was  along  the  coast.  Thus  I 
find  on  a  map  by  Hazius  in  Nuremberg,  1738,  f  and  other 
maps  of  about  the  same  time,  based  on  Bering's  map  as 
given  by  Du  Halde,  that  the  Gabriel's  turning  point  is 
marked  by  a  star  near  the  coast  with  the  same  latitude  as 
the  present  Serdze  Kamen,  with  the  following  explana- 
tion :  "  Terminus  litoruftt  a  Navarcho  Beer  ings  recog- 
nitorum."  This  supposition  gradually  gained  ground  in 
West  Europe  as  well  as  in  Russia,  especially  so,  too,  as 
Bering's  new  expedition  and  consequent  death  prevented 
him  from  correcting  the  error,  and  as  there  for  a  genera- 
tion was  nothing  more  known  of  the  voyage  than  the 
resum6  which  appears  in  Du  Halde's  work.  Moreover, 
the  manner  in  which  the  coast-line  in  Bering's  original 
map  is  extended  beyond  East  Cape,  has  only  served  to 
strengthen  the  opinion.  The  fact  is  that  Serdze  Kamen 
was  a  name  unknown  to  Bering.  It  is  found  neither  on 
his  map,  in  his  own  account,  nor  in  the  ship's  journal, 
and  could  not  be  so  found  for  a  very  obvious  reason — 
Bering  had  never  been  there. 

*  Note  18.         t  Note  19. 


BERING'S  FIRST  EXPEDITION.  41 

After  having  passed  East  Cape  on  the  14th  of  August, 
he  no  longer  sailed  along  the  coast.  On  that  day 
at  noon  they  still  saw  land  astern,  and  three  hours 
later,  high  mountains,  but  during  the  succeeding  forty- 
eight  hours  land  was  seen  neither  to  the  east  nor  the 
west. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  journal  gives  the  turning  point 
as  4°  44'  east  of  Cape  Chukotskoi,  and  Dr.  Campbell 
gives  another  series  of  astronomical  determinations,  sent 
by  Bering  from  Kamchatka  to  the  Senate  in  St.  Peters- 
burg, and  these  show  in  a  striking  way  that  the  turning 
point  was  east  of  the  northeastern  corner  of  Asia. 

According  to  these  :* 

The  Island  of  St.  Lawrence  is  64°  north  latitude  and 
122°  55'  east  of  Tobolsk. 

The  Island  of  Diomede  is  66°  north  latitude  and  125° 
42'  east  of  Tobolsk. 

The  turning  point,  67°  18'  north  latitude  and  126°  7' 
east  of  Tobolsk. 

Hence,  Serdze  Kamen  (67°  3'  north  latitude  and  188° 
11'  east  of  Greenwich),  as  Berchf  expressly  remarks,  must 
have  lain  .more  than  four  degrees  west  of  the  turning 
point.  That  this  must  have  been  so  appears  also  from 
the  course  of  the  vessel  on  its  return,  west  southwest, 
which  would  have  been  impossible,  if  the  Gabriel  had 
been  near  the  north  coast,  intending  to  return  through 
the  strait.  Among  recent  writers,  Von  Baer  J  alone  criti- 
cally calls  attention  to  these  facts,  without,  however, 
thoroughly  investigating  the  case.  This  I  shall  now 
attempt  to  do. 

*  Note  20.          t  Note  21.          $  Note  22. 


42  VITUS   BERING. 

The  name  Serdze  Kamen  appears  for  the  first  time — 
historically  speaking — in  Gerhard  Fr.  Miiller's  Samm- 
lung  Russischer  Geschichte,  Vol.  III.,  1758.*  He  says  : 
"  Bering  finally,  in  a  latitude  of  67°  18',  reached  a  head- 
land whence  the  coast  recedes  to  the  west.  From  this  the 
captain  drew  the  very  plausible  conclusion  that  he  now 
had  reached  the  most  northeasterly  point  of  Asia.  But 
here  we  are  forced  to  admit  that  the  circumstance  upon 
which  the  captain  based  his  conclusion  was  false,  as  it  has 
since  been  learned  that  the  above-mentioned  headland 
was  identical  with  the  one  called  Serdze  Kamen  by  the 
inhabitants  of  Fort  Anadyr,  on  account  of  the  promon- 
tory being  heart-shaped. "  Even  this  looks  suspicious. 
The  account  of  some  ignorant  Cossacks  is  presented  as  a 
corrective  to  the  report  of  educated  navigators,  and  it  is 
also  indicated  that  the  garrison  at  Fort  Anadyr  had  exact 
knowledge  of  the  northern  coast  of  the  Chukchee  penin- 
sula, something  it  did  not  have  at  all.f 

But  in  order  to  understand  Miiller,  it  is  necessary  to 
make  a  slight  digression.  When  Bering,  in  the  summer  of 
1729,  was  on  his  return  to  St.  Petersburg,  he  met,  between 
Okhotsk  and  Yakutsk,  the  Cossack  chief  Shestakoff,  who 
by  the  aid  of  Bering's  ships  intended  to  undertake  an 
extensive  military  expedition  in  the  eastern  seas.  He 
soon  fell,  however,  in  an  engagement,  but  his  comrade 
Captain  Pavlutski  led  an  invasion  into  the  land  of  the 
Chukchees.  From  Fort  Anadyr  he  went  northward  to 
the  Arctic  Ocean,  thence  along  the  coast  toward  the  east, 
then  across  the  Chukchee  peninsula  to  the  Pacific.  A 
more  detailed  account  than  this  cannot  be  given,  for  his 

*  Note  23.  t  Note  24. 


BERING'S  FIRST  EXPEDITION.  43 

route  as  indicated  on  Miiller's  map  is  an  impossible  one. 
This  much,  however,  seems  to  be  irrefutable:  shortly 
after  having  crossed  the  Chukchee  peninsula  in  a  south- 
erly direction,  he  came  to  a  sea,  and  this  sea  could  be  no 
other  than  Bering  Sea.*  Moreover,  it  appears  from  the 
account,  that  he  was  on  his  return  to  the  fort.  Muller 
goes  on  to  say  :  "  From  here  he  sent  a  part  of  his  men  in 
boats,  whither  he  himself  with  the  majority  of  the  party 
proceeded  by  land,  following  the  shore,  which  at  this 
place  extended  toward  the  southeast.  Those  in  boats 
were  so  near  the  shore  that  they  reported  to  him  every 
evening.  On  the  seventh  day,  the  party  in  boats  came  to 
the  mouth  of  a  river,  and  twelve  days  later,  to  the  mouth 
of  another.  At  about  seven  miles  from  this  point  there 
extends  eastward  far  into  the  sea  a  headland,  which  is 
first  mountainous,  but  then  flat,  as  far  as  the  eye  can 
reach.  This  headland  is  probably  what  induced  Captain 
Bering  to  turn  back.  Among  the  mountains  on  this  pro- 
montory there  is  one  which,  as  already  noted,  is  by  the 
natives  of  Anadyrskoi  Ostrog  called  Serdze  Kamen. 
From  here  Pavlutski  started  for  the  interior."  On  this 
loose  reasoning  rests  Serdze  Kamen, — a  process  of  reason- 
ing which  attempts  to  show  clearly  that  this  headland 
must  be  a  point  on  the  Pacific  coast,  and  that  it  must 
have  lain  many  days'  journey  west  of  Bering  Strait. 
But  how  is  it  possible,  that  Muller  could  have  been  so 
confused  as  to  make  such  strange  blunders  ?  The  case 
could  not  thus  have  presented  itself  to  him.  On  the 
basis  of  DeshneiFs  journey  and  Pavlutski's  cruise,  he 
formed  in  his  imagination  a  picture  of  northeastern 

*  Note  25. 


44  VITUS   BERING. 

Siberia,  in  which  the  Chukchee  peninsula  assumed  a 
double  horned  shape,  or — as  Von  Baer  expresses  it — 
resembled  a  bull's  horn. 

He  used  Bering's  chart  as  a  foundation  when  he  had 
no  other,  but  he  omitted  Cape  Chukotskoi,  and  on  the 
66th  parallel  he  inserted  Serdze  Kamen.  From  this  point 
he  made  the  coast  recede,  first  westward,  then  northward 
and  eastward  to  a  large  circular  peninsula  situated  be- 
tween 72°-75°  north  latitude,  which  he  called  Chukots- 
koi Noss.  It  is  this  imaginary  peninsula  which  Pavlutski 
crosses.  He  accordingly  reaches  the  Pacific  coast  to  the 
north  of  Bering  Strait,  and  in  this  way  Muller  succeeds 
in  locating  Serdze  Kamen  north  of  the  strait.  Hence, 
according  to  Muller's  opinion,  Bering  had  never  doubled 
the  northeastern  corner  of  Asia,  and  he  had  never  been 
out  of  the  Pacific.  "And  although  the  coast  beyond 
Serdze  Kamen,"  he  says,  "turns  westward,  it  forms  only 
a  large  bay,  and  the  coast-line  again  takes  a  northerly 
direction  to  Chukotskoi  Noss,  a  large  peninsula  in  a  lati- 
tude of  70°  or  more,  and  where  it  would  first  be  possible 
to  say  authoritatively  that  the  two  hemispheres  were  not 
connected.  But  how  could  all  this  have  been  known  on 
the  ship?  The  correct  idea  of  the  shape  of  the  land  of 
the  Chukchees  and  the  peninsula  bearing  the  same  name, 
is  due  to  geographical  investigations  instituted  by  me  at 
Yakutsk  in  1736  and  1737." 

Blinded  by  the  archival  dust  of  Yakutsk,  Muller  con- 
fused everything.  Cape  Chukotskoi,  which  Bering  had 
found  to  be  in  latitude  64°  18'  N.,  was  placed  beyond  72° 
N.;  Bering's  most  northerly  point,  which  lay  far  out  in 
the  sea,  was  changed  to  a  headland  in  latitude  66°  N., 


BERING'S  FIRST  EXPEDITION.  45 

and,  misled  by  some  vague  reports  from  the  garrison  at 
Fort  Anadyr,  he  called  this  point  Serdze  Kamen.  Every- 
thing is  guess-work ! 

But  where  did  Miiller  get  his  Serdze  Kamen,  and 
what  place  was  it  that  the  garrison  at  Fort  Anadyr  called 
by  this  name  ?  For  of  the  extreme  northeast  part  of  the 
peninsula,  or  the  details  of  Bering's  voyage  —  especially 
as  early  as  in  1730  —  they  could  have  had  no  knowledge. 
The  explanation  is  not  difficult.  On  Eussian  maps  of  the 
last  century,  those  of  Pallas  and  Billings,  for  example,* 
there  is  found  on  the  eastern  shore  of  St.  Kresta  Bay,  some- 
what northeast  of  the  mouth  of  the  Anadyr,  a  cape  which 
bears  the  name  of  Serdze  Kamen.  As  Bering  does  not  have 
this  name,  and  as  it  seems  to  have  been  known  as  early  as  at 
the  time  of  Pavlutski,  it  must  have  originated  either  with 
him  and  the  Cossacks  at  the  fort,  or  with  the  Chukchees. 
Sauer  relates  the  following  concerning  the  origin  of  the 
name:  "Serdze  Kamen  is  a  very  remarkable  mountain 
projecting  into  the  bay  at  Anadyr.  The  land  side  of  this 
mountain  has  many  caves,  to  which  the  Chukchees  fled 
when  Pavlutski  attacked  them,  and  from  where  they 
killed  a  large  number  of  Eussians  as  they  passed.  Pav- 
lutski was  consequently  obliged  to  seek  reinforcements  at 
Anadyr,  where  he  told  that  the  Chukchees  shot  his  men 
from  the  heart  of  the  cliff,  and  hence  it  received  the 
name  of  Serdze  Kamen,  or  the  heart-cliff."  But  this 
account,  which  finds  no  authority  whatever  in  Sauer's 
work,  is  severely  criticised  by  Liitke,  who  calls  attention 
to  the  fact  that  the  Chukchees  called  a  mountain  on  the 
eastern  shore  of  the  St.  Kresta  Bay  Linglin  Ga'i,  that  is, 

*Note  26. 


46  VITUS   BERING. 

the  heart-cliff.  It  is  quite  improbable  that  they  got  this 
name  from  the  Cossacks  in  Anadyrsk,  and  hence  we  here 
undoubtedly  have  the  origin  of  the  name.* 

In  Steller's  various  works  one  can  see  what  confused 
ideas  concerning  Bering's  first  expedition  the  academists 
who  wrote  his  history  really  had.  They  succeeded  in 
bringing  confusion  into  the  simplest  questions,  and,  as  a 
result,  wrecked  his  reputation.  In  Steller's  description  of 
Kamchatka,  where  he  enumerates  the  headlands  of  the 
peninsula,  a  remarkable  statement  is  found,  which  offers 
excellent  proof  of  the  correctness  of  Liitke's  opinion,  f 
The  situation  of  Serdze  Kamen  between  East  Cape  and 
the  mouth  of  the  Anadyr  is  here  distinctly  given. 
Hence,  according  to  his  opinion,  Bering  reached  no 
farther  than  to  St.  Kresta  Bay,  and  the  sarcastic  remarks 
plainly  show  Steller's  partisan  view.  J  Muller  was  not  so 
rash.  When  he  moved  Cape  Chukotskoi  half  a  dozen 
degrees  farther  to  the  north,  he  moved  Serdze  Kamen 
also,  and  carried  it  from  St.  Kresta  Bay  up  into  Bering 
Strait. 

In  this  cool  move  he  was  fortunate  enough  to  get  into 
a  closer  agreement  with  Bering's  determination  of  lati- 
tude, but  unfortunately  hit  upon  new  difficulties.  His 
own  map  is  based  upon  Bering's,  as  he  had  no  other,  but 
Bering's  voyage  did  not,  as  is  well  known,  end  at  any 
headland.  Neither  his  chart  nor  his  journal  supports 

*Note  27. 

tThe  passage  is:  "Z)a«  Tschuktschische  Vorgeburge  in  Nord  Oaten,  (else- 
where he  locates  it  in  latitude  66°  N.)i  ein  anderes  2  Grad  ohngefaehr  siid- 
licher,  Sirza-kamen,  der  Herzstein  gennent,  der  auch  bey  der  ersten  Expedition 
der  herzlichen  Courage  der  See-Officier  die  Gfranzen  getetzt.  Ohnweit  demselben 
ist  eine  sehr  groze  Eiribucht  und  guter  Hafen,  auch  vor  die  grotesten  Fahrzenge; 
Dot  Anadirskische  Vorgeburge " 

JNote  28. 


BERING'S  FIEST  EXPEDITION.  47 

any  such  theory,  and  hence  Miiller,  either  accidentally  or 
purposely,  does  not  in  his  book  have  a  word  about  the 
voyage  from  the  10th  to  the  loth  of  August,  and  on  his 
map  (1758)  Bering's  "track"  is  broken  off  near  East 
Cape.  This  headland  is  Miiller's  Serdze  Kamen,*  a  fact 
of  which  even  a  very  cursory  glance  at  Miiller's  and 
Bering's  maps  will  convince  any  one.  But  even  Bering 
had  located  the  northeastern  corner  of  Asia  (East  Cape) 
a  few  minutes  too  far  northward,  and  in  order  to  make 
the  map  coincide  with  his  theory  and  with  Bering's  com- 
putations, Miiller  made  the  error  greater,  without,  how- 
ever, fixing  it  at  Bering's  turning-point,  but  at  67°  18' 
N.  lat.,  where,  according  to  Bering's  and  his  own 
account,  it  ought  to  be. 

Thus  matters  stood  up  to  the  time  of  Cook's  third 
voyage.  But  as  Cook  had  on  board,  not  only  Miiller's 
book  and  map  in  an  English  translation,  but  also  Ber- 
ing's map,  and  an  excellent  treatise  by  Dr.  Campbell  in 
Harris's  Collection  of  Voyages,  he  could  pass  judgment 
while  at  the  place  in  question.  As  a  matter  of  course  he 
upholds  Bering.  Hence,  it  was  a  natural  result  that 
Serdze  Kamen,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  was  to  coincide 
with  the  most  northerly  point  reached  by  Bering,  could 
no  longer  retain  its  position  in  the  latitude  of  East  Cape, 
which  was  more  than  a  degree  too  far  south;  and  in 
order  to  make  Miiller's  account  intelligible,  Captain  Cook 
had  the  choice  between  entirely  expunging  the  name,  or 
bringing  it  up  to  an  approximately  correct  latitude. 
Cook  chose  the  latter;  and  to  this  mistake  on  his  part  it 
is  due  that  the  last  splinter  of  Miiller's  vain  structure 

*  Note  29. 


48  VITUS   BERING. 

passed  into  the  cartography  of  the  future.  In  latitude 
67°  3'  N.,  Cook  found  a  projecting  promontory  with 
many  crags  and  peaks,  and  "  possibly  one  or  another  of 
them  may  be  heart-shaped.  This  peak  we  have,  on  Miil- 
ler's  authority,  called  Serdze  Kamen."* 

Here  then  we  have  the  third  Serdze  Kamen,  and  we 
can  now  see  how  it  has  wandered  about  the  northeast 
corner  of  Asia.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  situated  in  a 
latitude  nearly  the  same  as  the  most  northerly  point 
reached  by  Bering,  but  unfortunately  this  does  not  at  all 
answer  Miiller's  description.  It  does  not  project  east- 
ward into  the  sea,  but  on  the  contrary,  its  main  direction 
is  toward  the  northwest.  At  the  base  of  this  headland, 
the  coast  does  not  in  a  striking  manner  extend  toward 
the  west,  but  continues  in  its  former  direction.  Nor  does 
it  consist  of  steep  rocks  and  a  low  point  extending  far- 
ther than  the  eye  can  reach.  In  other  words,  the  present 
Serdze  Kamen  has  nothing  whatever  to  do  either  with 
Bering's  voyage  or  Miiller's  description.! 

To  this  period  of  Bering's  history  another  observation 
must  be  made.  In  his  excellent  treatise  entitled,  "What 
Geography  owes  to  Peter  the  Great,"  Von  Baer  tries  to 
show  that  Bering  turned  back  in  his  course,  not  on  the 
15th,  but  on  the  16th  of  August,  and  that  too,  notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  both  Bering  and  Miiller,  in  print, 
give  the  former  date, — yes,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that 
Von  Baer  himself  had  an  autograph  card  from  Bering 
which  likewise  gives  the  15th.  In  his  criticism  on  this 
point,  Von  Baer  based  his  statements  on  those  extracts  of 
the  ship's  journal  referred  to  above,  which  as  we  have 

*  Note  30.          t  Note  31  and  Map  I.  in  Appendix. 


BERING'S  FIRST  EXPEDITION.  49 

seen  give  the  16th  of  August,  and  this,  in  his  opinion, 
must  be  decisive.  But  the  disagreement  in  these  sources 
is  only  an  apparent  one.  As  we  already  have  noted, 
Bering  reckoned  the  day  from  12  o'clock  at  noon.  Hence 
the  journal's  16th  of  August  began  at  noon  on  the  15th 
of  August,  and  as  Bering  turned  back  at  3  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon,  this  occurred  on  the  15th  of  August  according 
to  the  calendar,  and  on  the  16th  of  August  according  to 
the  artificial  day  of  the  journal.  Thus  Von  Baer's  cor- 
rection is  based  on  a  misunderstanding.  *  That  this  view 
of  the  question  is  correct  is  seen  also  from  that  passage  in 
the  journal  where  the  Island  of  St.  Lawrence  is  men- 
tioned. According  to  the  journal  this  island  was  passed 
at  2  o'clock  P.  M.  on  the  llth  of  August,  and  Berch,  to 
whom  we  are  indebted  for  information  concerning  Ber- 
ing's day,  is,  strange  to  say,  surprised  to  think  that 
Bering  named  the  island  in  honor  of  the  saint  of  the  pre- 
ceding day,  notwithstanding  that  the  llth  at  2  o'clock 
p.  M.  is  in  reality,  according  to  the  calendar  day,  the  10th 
of  August,  St.  Lawrence  Day.  The  first  twelve  hours  of 
the  journal's  day  belong  to  the  preceding  day.  Hence, 
Bering  turned  back  August  15,  at  3  o'clock  p.  M. 

*Note  32, 


CHAPTER  VII. 

BERING'S  WINTER  AT  THE  FORT. — INDICATIONS  OF  AN 
ADJACENT  CONTINENT. — UNSUCCESSFUL  SEARCH  FOR 
THIS  CONTINENT. — RETURN  TO  ST.  PETERSBURG. — 
GENERAL  REVIEW  OF  THE  RESULTS  OF  THE  FIRST 

EXPEDITION. 

WHEN  Bering  on  the  3d  of  September,  1728, 
entered  the  mouth  of  the  river  Kamchatka,  he 
met  the  Fortuna,  which  had  made  a  voyage  around  the 
Kamchatka  Peninsula.  Who  commanded  the  vessel  on 
this  voyage,  can  not  be  ascertained. 

Bering  wintered  at  the  fort.  On  the  days  that  it  was 
light,  the  men  were  busy  at  work  or  receiving  instruc- 
tions, and  thus  the  winter  passed  without  any  remark- 
able occurrences  or  misfortunes.  Spangberg,  however,  was 
obliged,  on  account  of  illness,  to  go  to  Bolsheretsk.* 

At  lower  Kamchatskoi  Ostrog,  Bering  became  con- 
vinced that  there  must  be  a  large  wooded  country  not 
far  to  the  east.  The  waves  were  more  like  those  of  a 
sea  than  of  an  ocean.  The  driftwood  did  not  indicate 
the  flora  of  eastern  Asia,  and  the  depth  of  the  sea  grew 
less  toward  the  north ;  the  east  wind  brought  drift- 
ice  to  the  mouth  of  the  river  after  three  days,  the 
north  wind,  on  the  other  hand,  after  five  days.  The 

*  A  port  on  the  southern  coast  of  Kamchatka. 
50 


BERING'S  FIRST  EXPEDITION.  51 

birds  of  passage  came  to  Kamchatka  from  the  east. 
The  reports  of  the  natives  corroborated  his  inferences. 
They  declared  that  they  were  able,  in  very  clear  weather, 
to  see  land  in  the  east  (Bering  Island),  and  that  in 
the  year  1715  a  man  had  stranded  there,  who  said  that 
his  native  land  was  far  to  the  east  and  had  large  rivers 
and  forests  with  very  high  trees.  All  this  led  Bering 
to  believe  that  a  large  country  lay  toward  the  northeast 
at  no  very  great  distance. 

In  the  summer  of  1729,  he  started  out  to  find  this 
country,  leaving  the  mouth  of  the  Kamchatka  for 
the  east,  July  6.  If  the  wind  had  been  favorable,  he 
would  very  soon  have  reached  Bering  Island,  where 
twelve  years  later  he  was  buried.  He  must  have  been 
very  near  this  island,  invisible  to  him,  however,  on 
account  of  a  fog ;  but  on  the  8th  of  July  he  was  struck 
by  a  severe  storm,  which  the  frail  vessel  and  the  weather- 
worn rigging  could  not  defy,  and  hence  on  the  9th, 
he  headed  for  the  southern  point  of  Kamchatka.  But 
also  on  this  voyage  he  did  geographical  service  by 
determining  the  location  of  the  peninsula  and  the 
northern  Kurile  Islands,  as  well  as  exploring  the  chan- 
nel between  them,  and  thus  finding  for  the  Russian 
mariner  a  new  and  easier  route  to  Kamchatka.  Berch 
says,  that  although  Bering  had  adverse  winds  on  the 
voyage  to  Bolsheretsk,  all  his  computations  are  quite 
accurate ;  the  difference  in  latitude  between  the  lat- 
ter place  and  lower  Kamchatka  Ostrog  is  given  as  6°  29', 
which  is  very  nearly  correct.  Bering  likewise  deter- 
mined the  location  of  Cape  Lopatka  at  51°  N.  lat. 


52  VITUS   BERING. 

At  Bolsheretsk  Bering  collected  his  men,  distributed 
provisions  and  powder,  left  the  Fortuna  with  a  crew 
of  one  corporal  and  eleven  men,  and  on  the  14th  of 
July  steered  for  Okhotsk.  After  a  fortunate,  but  not 
otherwise  remarkable,  journey,  he  reached  St.  Peters- 
burg on  the  1st  of  March,  1730.  "From  the  perusal 
of  his  ship's  journal,"  says  Berch,  "one  becomes  con- 
vinced that  our  famous  Bering  was  an  extraordinarily 
able  and  skillful  officer ;  and  if  we  consider  his  defect- 
ive instruments,  his  great  hardships,  and  the  obstacles 
that  had  to  be  overcome,  his  observations  and  the  great 
accuracy  of  his  journal  deserve  the  highest  praise.  He 
was  a  man  who  did  Eussia  honor. " 

Bering  had  thus  done  good  work  in  the  service  of 
Asiatic  geography.  He  had  shown  that  he  possessed 
an  explorer's  most  important  qualification — never  to 
make  positive  statements  where  there  is  no  definite 
knowledge.  By  virtue  of  his  extensive  travels  in  north- 
eastern Asia,  his  scientific  qualifications,  his  ability  to 
make  careful,  accurate  observations,  and  his  own  astro- 
nomical determinations,  and  by  virtue  of  his  direct 
acquaintance  with  Kosyrefsky's  and  Lushin's  works,  he 
was  in  a  position  to  form  a  more  correct  opinion  than 
any  contemporary  concerning  this  part  of  the  earth. 
In  spite  of  these  great  advantages  in  his  favor,  his 
work  was  rejected  by  the  leading  authorities  in  St. 
Petersburg.  It  is  true  that  Bering  found  sincere  sup- 
port in  the  able  and  influential  Ivan  Kirilovich  Kiriloff, 
but  to  no  one  else  could  he  turn  for  a  just  and  com- 
petent judge.  The  great  Eussian  empire  had  not  yet 
produced  a  scientific  aristocracy.  The  Academy  of 


BEBING'S  FIRST  EXPEDITION.  53 

Science,  which  had  been  founded  five  or  six  years  pre- 
vious, was  not  composed  of  able  scholars,  but  of  a  num- 
ber of  more  or  less  talented  contestants  for  honor  and 
fame, — of  men  who  occupied  a  prominent  yet  disputed 
position  in  a  foreign  and  hostile  country — young,  hot- 
headed Germans  and  Frenchmen  who  had  not  yet 
achieved  complete  literary  recognition.  Such  people 
are  stern  and  severe  judges.  Bering  was  unfortunate 
enough  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  German  Gerhard 
Fr.  Miiller  and  the  Frenchman  Joseph  Nicolas  De  FIsle. 
Although  Miiller  had  not  yet  seen  Siberia,  and 
although  it  was  not  until  ten  years  later  that  he  suc- 
ceeded in  building  that  geographical  card-house  which 
Captain  Cook  so  noiselessly  blew  down,  he  nevertheless, 
even  at  that  time,  on  every  occasion  expressed  the  opin- 
ion that  Bering  had  not  reached  the  northeast  point 
of  "Asia,  and  that  his  voyage  had  consequently  not 
accomplished  its  purpose.  De  Tlsle  was  Bering's  intel- 
lectual antipode.  As  a  geographer  he  delighted  in 
moving  about  on  the  borderland  of  the  world's  unex- 
plored regions.  His  element  was  that  of  vaguest  con- 
jecture,—  the  boldest  combinations  of  known  and 
unknown ;  and  even  as  an  old  man  he  did  not  shrink 
from  the  task  of  constructing,  from  insufficient  accounts 
of  travels  and  apocryphal  sailor-stories,  a  map  of  the 
Pacific,  of  which  not  a  single  line  has  been  retained.  He 
overstrained  himself  on  the  fame  of  his  deceased  brother, 
whose  methods,  inclinations,  and  valuable  geographical 
collections  he  had  inherited,  but  unfortunately  not  that 
intuitive  insight  which  made  Guillaume  De  1'Isle  the 


54  VITUS  BERING. 

leading  geographer  of  his  age.     Hence,  as  a  geographer, 
he  was  merely  an  echo  of  his  brother. 

One  of  Guillaume  De  1'Isle's  most  famous  essays  had 
been  on  the  island  of  Yezo.  In  1643  the  stadtholder  of 
Batavia,  the  able  Van  Diemen,  sent  the  ships  Kastri- 
kon  and  Breskens  under  the  command  of  Martin  de 
Vries  and  Hendrick  Corneliszoon  Schaep  to  Japan  for 
the  purpose  of  navigating  the  east  coast  of  the  island  of 
Nipon  (Hondo),  and  thence  go  in  search  of  America  by 
sailing  in  a  northwesterly  direction  to  the  45th  degree  of 
latitude ;  but  in  case  they  did  not  find  America,  which 
people  continued  to  believe  lay  in  these  regions,  they 
were  to  turn  toward  the  northeast  and  seek  the  coast  of 
Asia  on  the  56th  degree  of  latitude.  De  Vries  partly 
carried  out  his  chimerical  project.  At  40°  north  latitude 
he  saw  the  coast  of  Nipon,  two  degrees  farther  north, 
the  snow-capped  mountains  of  Yezo,  and  thence  sailed 
between  the  two  Kuriles  lying  farthest  to  the  south, 
which  he  called  Staaten  Eiland  and  Kompagniland.  He 
then  continued  his  voyage  into  the  Sea  of  Okhotsk  to 
48°  north  latitude,  where  he  turned  about,  saw  Yezo  in 
latitude  45°,  but  came,  without  noticing  La  Perouse 
Strait,  over  to  Saghalin,  which  he  considered  a  part  of 
Yezo,  and  as  he  followed  the  coast  of  Saghalin  to  Cape 
Patience  in  latitude  48°,  he  thought  Yezo  a  very  exten- 
sive island  on  the  eastern  coast  of  Asia.  Through  the 
cartography  of  the  seventeenth  century,  for  example 
Witsen's  and  Homann's  Atlas,  but  especially  through  Guil- 
laume De  1'Isle's  globes  and  maps,  these  erroneous  ideas 
were  scattered  over  the  earth,  and,  when  the  first  accounts 
of  Kamchatka,  without  being  accompanied  by  a  single 


BERING'S  FIRST  EXPEDITION.  55 

astronomical  determination,  reached  Europe,  many  be- 
lieved that  this  land  was  identical  with  Yezo.  But  as 
De  Vries  had  left  some  determinations  of  latitude  and 
longitude  which  showed  that  the  island  must  be  very  near 
Japan,  some  went  even  so  far  as  to  suppose  that  it  was 
contiguous  to  Nipon  ;  indeed,  Guillaume  De  Tlsle's  essay 
attempted  to  prove  this.  Thus  three  lands  were  made 
one,  while  De  Vries's  Staaten  Eiland  and  Kompagniland, 
which  could  find  no  place  in  this  series,  were  forced  east- 
ward into  the  Pacific  as  large  tracts  of  land  separated 
from  Kamchatka- Yezo  and  from  each  other  by  narrow 
straits.  But  this  is  not  all.  The  Portuguese  cosmo- 
grapher  Texeira  had  in  1649,  in  these  same  regions,  indi- 
cated a  coast  projecting  far  to  the  east  toward  America, 
seen  by  Juan  de  Gama  on  a  voyage  to  New  Spain  from 
the  Philippine  Islands.  This  Gamaland  was  now  des- 
cribed as  a  continuation  of  Kompagniland.  In  Homann's 
Atlas,  1709,  it  is  represented  as  a  part  of  America,  and 
Guillaume  De  Tlsle  varied  on  the  theme  in  a  different 
way.* 

Unfortunately  these  ideas  held  sway  in  the  scientific 
world  when  Bering,  in  1730,  returned.  Furthermore, 
scholars  thought  these  ideas  were  confirmed  by  Swedish 
prisoners  of  war  who  had  returned  from  Siberia,  espe- 
cially by  the  famous  Tabbert,  or  Strahlenberg,  as  he  was 
later  called,  whose  various  imaginary  chart-outlines  had 
been  adopted  in  Homann's  Atlas,  1727,  and  in  other  West 
European  geographical  works  then  in  vogue,  f 

Bering  returned.  His  sober  accounts  and  accurate 
maps,  in  which  there  was  nothing  imaginary  whatever, 

*  See  Maps  II.  and  III.          t  Note  33. 


56  VITUS   BERING. 

were  now  to  take  up  the  fight  against  these  prejudices. 
Bering  declared  that  he  had  sailed  around  Kamchatka 
without  having  seen  anything  of  these  lands,  although  he 
had — in  a  different  direction,  however — noticed  signs  of 
land.  On  his  map,  Kamchatka  was  represented  as  a  defi- 
nitely defined  region,  and  hence  Guillaume  De  1'Isle's 
structure  had  received  its  first  blow,  in  case  Bering's 
representations  should  be  accepted.  But  Bering's  repu- 
tation had  been  undermined  in  still  another  direction. 
The  above-mentioned  Cossack  chief  Shestakoff  had,  dur- 
ing his  sojourn  in  Kussia,  distributed  various  rough  con- 
tour sketches  of  northeastern  Asia.  This  brave  warrior, 
however,  knew  just  as  little  about  wielding  a  pen  as  he 
did  a  pencil.  The  matter  of  a  few  degrees  more  or  less  in 
some  coast-lines  did  not  seriously  trouble  him.  Even  his 
own  drawings  did  not  agree.  Northeast  of  the  Chukchee 
peninsula  he  had  sketched  an  extensive  country,  which 
Bering  had  not  seen. 

It  is  characteristic  of  Joseph  De  1'Isle  that  he  accepted 
both  Shestakoff  and  Strahlenberg,  and  as  late  as  in  1753 
still  clung  to  their  outlines.  In  the  first  place,  it  satisfied 
his  family  pride  to  be  able  to  maintain  his  brother's  views 
of  the  cartography  of  these  regions  (and  of  his  views 
Strahlenberg^s  were  but  an  echo),  and  it  moreover  satis- 
fied his  predisposition  to  that  which  was  vague  and  hypo- 
thetical. At  first  De  1'Isle  succeeded  in  carrying  out  his 
wishes,  and  in  1737  the  Academy  published  a  map  of  Asia 
in  which  it  would  prove  extremely  difficult  to  find  any 
trace  of  Bering's  discoveries.*  It  was  accordingly  quite 
the  proper  thing  to  consider  Bering's  first  expedition 

*  Note  34. 


BERING'S  FIRST  EXPEDITION.  57 

wholly,  or  at  least  to  a  great  extent,  unsuccessful.  In 
the  literature  of  that  day  there  are  evidences  of  this, 
especially  in  Steller's  writings.  He  treats  Bering  with 
scornful  superiority,  which  is  particularly  out  of  place, 
as  he  shows  himself  a  poor  judge  in  geographical  mat- 
ters.* Kiriloff,  who  in  his  general  map  of  Russia  in 
1734f  unreservedly  accepted  Bering's  map,  was  the  only 
man  who  gave  him  due  recognition.  The  Academy  could 
not  persuade  itself  to  make  use  of  the  only  scientifically 
obtained  outline  map  in  existence  of  the  remotest  regions 
of  the  empire,  until  Bering,  many  years  afterwards,  had 
won  full  recognition  in  Paris,  Nuremberg,  and  London. 
Bering's  map  was  made  in  Moscow  in  1731,  and  the  Eus- 
sian  government  presented  it  to  the  king  of  Poland,  J 
who  gave  it  to  the  Jesuit  father  Du  Halde.  He  had  it 
printed  and  inserted  in  D'Anville's  Nouvelle  Atlas  de  la 
Chine,  a  supplement  to  his  large  work  on  China,  to  which 
we  have  several  times  referred.  §  Of  this  work  Dr.  Camp- 
bell later  gave  an  account  in  Harris's  Collection  of  Voy- 
ages, and  it  was,  furthermore,  the  basis  of  the  better 
class  of  geographical  works  on  eastern  Asia  of  last  cen- 
tury until  Captain  Cook's  day.  A  copy  of  the  eastern 
half  of  the  map  will  be  found  in  the  appendix  to  this 
treatise. 

•Note 35.          t  Note 36.          i  Note  37.          §  Note 38. 


PAET  II. 


THE  GREAT  NORTHERN  EXPEDITION. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

BERING'S  PLANS  FOE  A  SECOND  EXPEDITION.  —  THE 
GREATEST  GEOGRAPHICAL  ENTERPRISE  EVER  UNDER- 
TAKEN. 

ARCTIC  exploration  has  a  bewitching  power  over  its 
-£-*-  devotees.  Bering  and  his  companions  did  not 
escape  the  enchantment.  Hardly  had  they  returned 
from  a  five  years'  sojourn  in  the  extremest  corner  of  the 
world,  when  they  declared  themselves  willing  to  start 
out  again.  As  they  had  met  with  so  much  doubt  and 
opposition  from  scholars, — had  learned  that  the  world's 
youngest  marine  lacked  the  courage  to  recognize  its  own 
contributions  to  science,  and,  furthermore,  as  the  Admir- 
alty thought  it  had  given  strong  reasons  for  doubting 
Bering's  results,*  he  proposed  to  make  his  future  explo- 
rations on  a  larger  scale  and  remove  all  doubt,  by  chart- 
ing the  whole  of  this  disputed  part  of  the  globe. 

April  30,  1730,  only  two  months  after  his  return,  he 
presented  two  plans  to  the  Admiralty.  These  have  been 
found  and  published  by  Berch,  and  are  of  the  greatest 
importance  in  judging  of  Bering's  true  relation  to  the 
Great  Northern  Expedition.  In  the  first  of  these  propo- 
sitions he  sets  forth  a  series  of  suggestions  for  the 
administration  of  East  Siberia,  and  for  a  better  utiliza- 

*  Note  39. 
61 


62  VITUS  BERING. 

tion  of  its  resources.  He  desired,  among  other  things, 
missionary  work  among  the  Yakuts,  better  discipline 
among  the  East  Siberian  Cossacks,  more  honesty  among 
the  yassak-collectors,  the  opening  of  iron  mines  at 
Okhotsk  and  Udinsk,  and  various  other  things.  But  it 
was  never  his  intention  to  carry  out  these  propositions 
himself,  and  it  was  a  great  mistake  for  the  government 
to  burden  his  instructions  with  such  purely  administra- 
tive work. 

His  second  proposition  is  incomparably  more  inter- 
esting. In  this  he  indicates  the  general  outline  of  his 
Great  Northern  Expedition,  the  greatest  geographical 
enterprise  that  the  world  has  hitherto  known.  This 
document  shows  that  he  was  the  originator  of  the  plan, 
something  that  has  been  contradicted,  and  but  for  this 
document  might  still  stand  contradicted.  He  proposed 
to  start  out  from  Kamchatka  to  explore  and  chart  the 
western  coast  of  America  and  establish  commercial  rela- 
tions with  that  country,  thence  to  visit  Japan  and 
Amoor  for  the  same  purpose,  and  finally  to  chart  either 
by  land  or  sea  the  Arctic  coast  of  Siberia, — namely,  from 
the  Obi  to  the  Lena.*  Through  these  three  enterprises 
and  his  former  expedition,  it  was  Bering's  object  to  fill 
the  vacant  space  on  his  chart  between  the  known  West 
and  the  known  East, — between  the  Kara  Sea  and  the 
Japan  Islands.  He  refused  to  corroborate  his  first 
observations  by  again  visiting  the  same  localities,  and 
he  rightly  concluded,  that  absolute  proof  of  the  separa- 
tion of  the  continents  would  be  ascertained  if  the 
American  coast  were  charted. 

»  Note  40. 


BERING'S  GREAT  NORTHERN  EXPEDITION.         63 

The  political  situation  in  the  empire  favored  the  adop- 
tion of  Bering's  plans.  The  Duchess  of  Courland,  Anna 
Ivanovna,  had  just  (1730)  ascended  the  throne.  With  her 
the  foreigners  and  Peter's  reform  party  again  came  into 
power,  and  with  much  more  zeal  than  skill,  they  sought 
to  continue  Peter's  work.  Anna  aimed  to  shine  in  Eu- 
rope as  the  ruler  of  a  great  power,  and  in  Kussia  as  a 
West  European  queen.  Europe  was  to  be  awed  by  Kus- 
sian  greatness,  and  Kussia  by  European  wisdom.  In  one 
of  his  high-flown  speeches  Czar  Peter  had  given  assurance 
that  science  would  forsake  its  abodes  in  West  Europe, 
and  in  the  fullness  of  time  cast  a  halo  of  immortal  glory 
around  the  name  of  Russia. 

It  was  necessary  to  speed  this  time.  Anna  and  her  co- 
adjutors had  an  insatiable  desire  for  the  splendor  and 
exterior  luster  of  culture.  Like  upstarts  in  wealth  they 
sought  to  surround  themselves  with  some  of  that  glory 
which  only  gray-haired  honor  can  bestow.  One  of  the 
surest  ways  to  this  glory  was  through  the  equipment  of 
scientific  expeditions.  They  had  at  their  disposal  an 
academy  of  science,  a  fleet,  and  the  resources  of  a  mighty 
empire.  The  sacrifice  of  a  few  thousand  human  lives 
troubled  them  but  little,  and  they  exerted  themselves  to 
make  the  enterprise  as  large  and  sensational  as  possible. 
Bering's  above-mentioned  proposition  was  taken  as  a 
foundation  for  these  plans,  but  when,  after  the  lapse  of 
two  years,  his  proposition  left  the  various  departments  of 
the  government  —  the  Senate,  the  Academy,  and  the 
Admiralty — it  had  assumed  such  proportions  that  he 
found  great  difficulty  in  recognizing  it. 


64  VITUS   BERING. 

After  having  on  April  30,  1730,  submitted  to  the 
Admiralty  his  new  proposition,  together  with  the  ac- 
counts and  reports  of  his  first  expedition,  Bering  was  sent 
to  Moscow,  where  Anna  maintained  her  court  during  the 
first  few  years  of  her  reign.  Here  he  laid  his  plans 
before  the  Senate,  and  made  the  map  before  referred  to; 
but  all  the  leading  men  were  then  too  much  occupied 
with  court  intrigues  to  be  able  to  give  his  plans  any  of 
their  attention.  Separated  from  his  family,  he  wearied 
of  life  in  Moscow,  and  on  January  5,  1732,  the  Senate 
gave  him  leave  of  absence  to  go  to  St.  Petersburg,  on 
condition  that  Chaplin  and  the  steward  would  conclude 
the  reports.  Moreover,  the  Senate  ordered  that  the 
Admiralty  should  pay  Bering's  claims  against  the  govern- 
ment for  his  services.  In  view  of  the  hardships  he  had 
endured,  he  received  1,000  rubles,  double  the  amount  to 
which  he  was  entitled  according  to  the  regulations  of  the 
department.  Almost  simultaneously  he  was  promoted,  in 
regular  succession,  to  the  position  of  capitain-command- 
eur  in  the  Russian  fleet,  the  next  position  below  that  of 
rear-admiral. 

In  the  spring  of  1732,  Anna,  Biron,  and  Ostermann 
had  succeeded  in  crushing  the  Old  Russian  opposition. 
The  leaders  of  this  party,  especially  the  family  of  Dol- 
goruki,  had  been  either  banished  to  Siberia  or  scattered 
about  in  the  provinces  and  in  fortresses,  and  now  there 
was  nothing  to  hinder  the  government  in  pursuing  its 
plans.  As  early  as  April  17,  the  Empress*  ordered  that 

*H.  H.  Bancroft,  Vol.' XXXIII.,  p.  42,  History  of  Alaska,  San  Francisco, 
1886,  Is  in  error  when  he  states  that  this  empress  was  Elizabeth,  the  daughter 
of  Peter  the  Great.  Anna  Ivanovna,  a  daughter  of  Peter  the  Great's  half- 
brother  Ivan,  was  at  this  time  on  the  throne.  She  reigned  from  1730  to  1740t 
Elizabeth  Petrovna  did  not  become  empress  until  1741.— TB. 


BERING'S  GREAT  NORTHERN  EXPEDITION.         65 

Bering's  proposition  should  be  executed,  and  charged  the 
Senate  to  take  the  necessary  steps  for  this  purpose.  The 
Senate,  presided  over  by  Ivan  Kiriloff,  an  enthusiastic 
admirer  of  Peter  the  Great,  acted  with  dispatch.  On 
May  2,  it  promulgated  two  ukases,  in  which  it  declared 
the  objects  of  the  expedition,  and  sought  to  indicate  the 
necessary  means.  Although  the  Senate  here  in  the  main 
followed  Bering's  own  proposition  and  made  a  triple 
expedition  (an  American,  a  Japanese,  and  an  Arctic),  it 
nevertheless  betrayed  a  peculiar  inclination  to  burden  the 
chief  of  the  expedition  with  tasks  most  remote  from  his 
own  original  plans.  It  directed  him  not  only  to  explore 
the  Shantar  Islands  and  reach  the  Spanish  possessions  in 
America,  something  that  Bering  had  never  thought  of, 
but  also  included  in  its  ukase  a  series  of  recommendations 
for  the  development  of  Siberia, — recommendations  which 
Bering  had  previously  made  to  the  government,  and 
which  had  already  provoked  some  definite  efforts,  as  the 
exiled  Pissarjeff,  a  former  officer  of  the  Senate,  had  been 
removed  to  Okhotsk  to  develop  that  region  and  extend 
the  maritime  relations  on  the  Pacific. 

He  seems,  however,  not  to  have  accomplished  any- 
thing, and  the  Senate  thought  it  feasible  to  burden 
Bering  with  a  part  of  this  task.  He  was  directed  to 
supply  Okhotsk  with  more  inhabitants,  to  introduce 
cattle-raising  on  the  Pacific  coast,  to  found  schools  in 
Okhotsk  for  both  elementary  and  nautical  instruction,  to 
establish  a  dock-yard  in  this  out-of-the-way  corner,  to 
transport  men  and  horses  to  Yudomskaya  Krest,  and  to 
establish  iron- works  at  Yakutsk,  Udinsk,  and.  other  places. 
But  this  was  simply  the  beginning  of  the  avalanche,  and 


66  VITUS   BERING. 

as  it  rolled  along  down  through  the  Admiralty  and 
Academy,  it  assumed  most  startling  dimensions.  These 
authorities  aspired  to  nothing  less  than  raising  all  human 
knowledge  one  step  higher.  The  Admiralty  desired  the 
expedition  to  undertake  the  nautical  charting  of  the  Old 
World  from  Archangel  to  Nipon — even  to  Mexico;  and 
the  Academy  could  not  be  satisfied  with  anything  less 
than  a  scientific  exploration  of  all  northern  Asia.  As  a 
beginning,  Joseph  Nicolas  De  1'  Isle,  professor  of  astron- 
omy at  the  Academy,  was  instructed  to  give  a  graphic 
account  of  the  present  state  of  knowledge  of  the  North 
Pacific,  and  in  a  memoir  to  give  Bering  instructions  how 
to  find  America  from  the  East.  The  Senate  also  decreed 
that  the  former's  brother,  Louis,  surnamed  La  Croyere, 
an  adventurer  of  somewhat  questionable  character,  should 
accompany  the  expedition  as  astronomer.  Thus  decree 
after  decree  followed  in  rapid  succession.  On  December 
28,  the  Senate  issued  a  lengthy  ukase,  which,  in  sixteen 
paragraphs,  outlined  in  extenso  the  nautico-geographical 
explorations  to  be  undertaken  by  the  expedition.  Com- 
modore Bering  and  Lieut.  Chirikoff,  guided  by  the  in- 
structions of  the  Academy,  were  to  sail  to  America  with 
two  ships  for  the  purpose  of  charting  the  American  coast. 
They  were  to  be  accompanied  by  La  Croyere,  who,  with 
the  assistance  of  the  surveyors  Krassilnikoff  and  Popoff, 
was  to  undertake  a  series  of  local  observations  through 
Siberia,  along  several  of  the  largest  rivers  of  the  country 
and  in  its  more  important  regions,  across  the  Pacific,  and 
also  along  the  coast  of  the  New  World.  With  three  ships 
Spangberg  was  to  sail  to  the  Kurile  Islands,  Japan,  and 
the  still  more  southerly  parts  of  Asia,  while  simultan- 


BERING'S  GREAT  NORTHERN  EXPEDITION.        67 

eously  the  coast  from  Okhotsk  to  Uda,  to  Tugur,  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Amoor,  and  the  coasts  of  the  Shantar 
Islands  and  Saghalin  were  to  be  charted. 

Even  these  tasks  exceeded  all  reasonable  demands,  and 
not  until  several  generations  later  did  Cook,  La  Perouse, 
and  Vancouver  succeed  in  accomplishing  what  the  Rus- 
sian Senate  in  a  few  pen-strokes  directed  Bering  to  do. 
And  yet,  not  until  the  government  touched  the  Arctic 
side  of  this  task,  did  it  entirely  lose  sight  of  all  reason. 
Its  instructions  to  Bering  were,  not  only  to  chart  the 
coast  of  the  Old  World  from  the  Dwina  to  the  Pacific,  to 
explore  harbors  and  estuaries  along  this  coast,  to  describe 
the  country  and  study  its  natural  resources,  especially  its 
mineral  wealth,  but  also  to  dispatch  an  expedition  to  the 
Bear  Islands,  off  the  mouth  of  the  Kolyma,  and  to  see  to 
it  that  his  earlier  trip  to  the  Chukchee  peninsula  was 
repeated,  besides  sailing  from  there  to  America,  as  the 
results  of  his  former  voyage  "  were  unsatisfactory/'  reli- 
able information  concerning  that  country  having  been 
received  from  the  Cossack  Melnikoff. 

All  these  expeditions  were  to  start  out  from  the  great 
Siberian  rivers, — from  the  Dwina  to  the  Obi  with  two 
vessels  under  the  charge  of  the  Admiralty  ;  from  the  Obi 
and  Lena  with  three  twenty-four-oared  boats,  two  of 
which  were  to  meet  between  these  two  rivers,  and  the 
third  was  to  sail  around  Bering's  Peninsula  (thus  Reclus 
calls  the  Chukchee  peninsula),  or,  if  America  proved  to 
be  connected  with  that  country,  it  was  to  attempt  to  find 
European  colonies.  The  orders  of  the  Senate  were,  fur- 
thermore, to  the  effect  that  surveyors  should  be  sent  out 
in  advance  for  the  preliminary  charting  of  these  river- 


68  VITUS    BEBING. 

mouths,  and  to  erect  light-houses,  establish  magazines  for 
convenient  relays,  and  procure  provisions  and  other 
necessaries, — very  excellent  directions,  all  of  which,  how- 
ever, were  so  many  meaningless  words  after  they  had  left 
the  government  departments.  Our  age,  which  still  has 
in  mind  the  Franklin  expeditions — the  English  parallel — 
is  able  to  form  an  idea  of  these  gigantic  demands,  and  yet 
the  Senate  did  not  hesitate  to  load  the  organization  of  all 
this  upon  the  shoulders  of  one  man.  Bering  was  made 
chief  of  all  the  enterprises  east  of  the  Ural  Mountains. 
At  the  Obi  and  the  Lena,  at  Okhotsk  and  Kamchatka, 
he  was  to  furnish  ships,  provisions,  and  transportation. 

But  in  spite  of  all  that  was  vague  and  visionary  in 
these  plans,  they  had  nevertheless  a  certain  homogeneity. 
They  were  all  nautical  expeditions  for  nautical  pur- 
poses and  nautico-geographical  investigations.  Then  the 
Academy  added  its  demands,  making  everything  doubly 
complicated.  It  demanded  a  scientific  exploration  of  all 
Siberia  and  Kamchatka, — not  only  an  account  of  these 
regions  based  on  astronomical  determinations  and  geodetic 
surveys,  on  minute  descriptions  and  artistically  executed 
landscape  pictures,  on  barometric,  thermometric,  and 
aerometric  observations,  as  well  as  investigations  in  all 
the  branches  of  natural  history,  but  it  demanded  also  a 
detailed  presentation  of  the  ethnography,  colonization, 
and  history  of  the  country,  together  with  a  multitude  of 
special  investigations  in  widely  different  directions. 
The  leading  spirits  in  these  enterprises  were  two  young 
and  zealous  Germans,  the  chemist  Johann  Georg  Gmelin 
and  the  historian  Gerhard  Friedrich  Miiller,  twenty- 
eight  and  twenty-four  years  of  age  respectively,  members 


BERING'S  GREAT  NORTHERN  EXPEDITION.          69 

of  the  Academy,  and  later,  highly  respected  scholars. 
Muller  was  a  personal  friend  of  Bering,  and  through  him 
got  a  desire  to  participate  in  the  expedition. 

Kiriloff,  the  secretary  of  the  Senate,  himself  a  suc- 
cessful student  of  geography,  supported  the  efforts  of  the 
Academy,  and  most  generously  gratified  all  the  exag- 
gerated demands  that  only  imperious  and  inexperienced 
devotees  of  science  could  present.  Indeed,  Bering  could 
not  but  finally  consider  himself  fortunate  in  escaping  a 
sub-expedition  to  Central  Asia,  one  of  Kiriloff's  pet  plans, 
which  the  latter  afterwards  took  upon  himself  to  carry 
out.  The  Academic  branch  of  the  expedition,  which  thus 
came  to  consist  of  the  astronomer  La  Croyefre,  the  physicist 
Gmelin  (the  elder),  and  the  historian  Muller,  was  right 
luxuriously  equipped.  It  was  accompanied  by  two  land- 
scape painters,  one  surgeon,  one  interpreter,  one  instru- 
ment-maker, five  surveyors,  six  scientific  assistants,  and 
fourteen  body-guards.  Moreover,  this  convoy  grew  like  an 
avalanche,  as  it  worked  its  way  into  Siberia.  La  Croy^re 
had  nine  wagon-loads  of  instruments,  among  them  tele- 
scopes thirteen  and  fifteen  feet  in  length.  These  Academ- 
ical gentlemen  had  at  least  thirty-six  horses,  and  on  the 
large  rivers,  they  could  demand  boats  with  cabins.  They 
carried  with  them  a  library  of  several  hundred  volumes,  not 
only  of  scientific  and  historical  works  in  their  specialties, 
but  also  of  the  Latin  classics  and  such  light  reading  as 
Eobinson  Crusoe  and  Gulliver's  Travels.  Besides,  they 
had  seventy  reams  of  writing  paper  and  an  enormous 
supply  of  artists'  colors,  draughting  materials  and  appar- 
atus. All  archives  were  to  be  open  to  them,  all  Siberian 
government  authorities  were  to  be  at  their  service  and  fur- 


70  VITUS   BERING. 

nish  interpreters,  guides,  and  laborers.  The  Professors,  as 
they  were  called,  constituted  an  itinerant  academy. 
They  drafted  their  own  instructions,  and  no  superior 
authority  took  upon  itself  to  make  these  subservient  to 
the  interests  of  the  expedition  as  a  whole.  From  Feb- 
ruary, 1734,  they  held  one  or  two  weekly  meetings  and 
passed  independent  resolutions.  It  became  a  part  of 
Bering's  task  to  move  this  cumbersome  machine,  this 
learned  republic,  from  St.  Petersburg  to  Kamchatka,  to 
care  for  their  comforts  and  conveniences,  and  render  pos- 
sible the  flank  movements  and  side  sallies  that  either 
scientific  demands  or  their  own  freaks  of  will  might  dic- 
tate. In  the  original  instructions  such  directions  were 
by  no  means  few.  But  Bering  had  no  authority  over 
these  men.  They  were  willing  to  recognize  his  authority 
only  when  they  needed  his  assistance.  None  of  them 
except  Bering  and  his  former  associates  had  any  idea  of 
the  mode  and  conditions  of  travel  in  that  barbarous 
country.  That  there  should  be  lack  of  understanding 
between  men  with  such  different  objects  in  view  as 
academists  and  naval  officers,  is  not  very  strange.  Their 
only  bond  of  union  was  the  Senate's  senseless  ukase.  If 
it  had  been  the  purpose  of  the  government  to  exhibit  a 
human  parallel  to  the  "  happy  families  "  of  menageries,  it 
could  hardly  have  acted  differently.  In  all  his  move- 
ments Bering  was  hampered  by  this  academical  dead- 
weight. The  Professors  not  only  showed  a  lack  of  appre- 
ciation of  Bering's  efforts  in  their  behalf,  but  they  also 
stormed  him  with  complaints,  filled  their  records  with 
them,  and  concluded  them — characteristically  enough — 


BERING'S  GREAT  NORTHERN  EXPEDITION.         71 

with  a  resolution  to  prefer  formal  charges  against  him 
before  the  Senate. 

Only  a  new  state,  as  the  Russian  then  was,  only  a 
government  that  recently  had  seen  the  will  of  one  ener- 
getic man  turn  topsy-turvy  a  whole  people's  mode  of  life, 
and  yet  had  preserved  a  fanciful  faith  in  Peter  the  Great's 
teachings — his  supreme  disregard  for  obstacles, — only 
such  a  government  could  even  think  of  heaping  such 
mountains  of  enterprises  one  upon  the  other,  or  demand 
that  any  one  man,  and  a  foreigner  at  that,  should  carry 
them  into  execution.  Peter's  spirit  undoubtedly  hovered 
over  these  plans,  but  the  marble  sarcophagus  in  the 
church  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  had  long  since  received 
his  earthly  remains,  and  without  his  personal  energy  the 
Senate's  plans  were  but  the  projects  of  a  dazzled  fancy. 
On  paper  the  Senate  might  indeed  refer  Bering  to 
various  ways  and  means ;  it  might  enjoin  upon  the 
Siberian  authorities  to  do  everything  in  their  power  to 
promote  the  progress  of  the  various  expeditions  ;  it  might 
direct  its  secretaries  to  prepare  very  humane  declama- 
tion denouncing  the  practice  of  any  violence  against,  or 
oppression  of,  the  weak  nomadic  tribes  in  the  East ;  but 
it  could  not  by  a  few  pen-strokes  increase  the  natural 
resources  of  Siberia,  or  change  the  unwillingness  of  the 
local  authorities  to  accede  to  the  inordinate  demands 
which  the  nautical  expedition  necessarily  had  to  make, 
nor  could  it  make  roads  in  the  wild  forest-regions  where 
only  the  Yakut  and  Tunguse  roamed  about.  The  Sen- 
ate's humanitarian  phrases  were  of  but  little  significance 
to  the  explorers  when  it  was  found  necessary  to  compel 
the  nomads  of  the  East  to  supply  what  the  government 


72  VITU8  BERING. 

had  failed  to  furnish.  The  Senate  had  ventured  so  near 
the  extreme  limits  of  the  possible,  that  it  could  not  but 
end  by  crossing  the  border  and  demanding  the  impossible. 
These  numerous  expeditions,  scattered  over  half  a  conti- 
nent, were  exposed  to  so  many  unforeseeable  accidents 
and  misfortunes,  that  the  government,  in  order  to  render 
support  and  retain  its  control,  would  necessarily  have  to 
be  in  regular  communication.  But  east  of  Moscow  there 
was  no  mail  service.  Hence  the  government  instructed 
Bering  to  establish,  on  consultation  with  the  local  author- 
ities, postal  communication,  partly  monthly  and  partly 
bi-monthly,  from  Moscow  to  Kamchatka,  to  the  Chinese 
border  by  way  of  Irkutsk,  and  by  a  new  route  to  Uda, — 
as  though  such  a  matter  could  be  accomplished  through 
consultation.  The  Senate  might  have  known,  and  in 
fact  did  know,  that  in  the  mountainous  forest-region 
between  Yakutsk  and  Okhotsk  (a  distance  of  about  seven 
hundred  miles)  there  was  but  one  single  Russian  hut, 
and  that  all  the  requisites  for  a  mail  service — men, 
horses,  and  roads  —  demanded  unlimited  means  and  most 
extensive  preparations. 

A  number  of  plans  and  propositions  of  minor  import- 
ance are  here  omitted.  The  object  has  been  to  show,  in 
a  succinct  review,  the  origin  of  the  Great  Northern  Expe- 
dition, its  enormous  compass,  and  the  grouping  of  its 
various  enterprises  about  Vitus  Bering  as  its  chief.  Von 
Baer  classes  the  tasks  to  be  accomplished  by  Bering,  each 
of  which  demanded  separately  equipped  expeditions, 
under  seven  heads:  namely,  astronomical  observations 
and  determinations  in  Siberia,  physico-geographical  ex- 
plorations, historic-ethnographical  studies,  the  charting 


BERING'S  GREAT  NORTHERN  EXPEDITION.         73 

of  the  Arctic  coast,  the  navigation  of  the  East  Siberian 
coast,  and  the  discovery  of  Japan  and  America.  This 
writer  adds  that  no  other  geographical  enterprise,  not 
even  the  charting  of  China  by  the  Jesuits,  Mackenzie's 
travels,  or  Franklin's  expeditions,  can  in  greatness  or 
sacrifice  be  compared  with  the  gigantic  undertakings  that 
were  loaded  upon  Bering,  and  carried  out  by  him.* 

It  would  no  doubt  be  wrong  to  ascribe  the  over- 
burdening of  Bering's  plans  to  any  one  man,  and  for  a 
foreign  author,  who  but  imperfectly  understands  the 
Russian  literature  of  that  period,  to  do  so,  would  be  more 
than  foolish.  Kiriloff,  the  secretary  of  the  Senate,  had 
great  zeal  for  geographical  explorations,  and  did  all  in 
his  power  to  further  the  plans  of  Czar  Peter.  It  has  been 
proved  that  Bering's  proposition  was  presented  after  a 
conference  with  Kiriloff,  and  that  as  long  as  he  lived,  he 
assisted  Bering  by  word  and  deed.  Furthermore,  it 
seems  probable  that,  in  order  to  promote  the  exploration 
of  Siberia,  he  prevented  the  Admiralty  from  sending 
Bering's  expedition  by  sea  south  of  Africa.  However,  it 
is  undoubtedly  a  fact  that  Bering's  plan  reached  its  final 
proportions  as  a  result  of  the  discussions  between  Count 
Ostermann,  the  influential  courtier  and  statesman,  (who 
evidently  landed  in  Russia  in  company  with  Bering  in 
1704),  Soimonoff,  an  officer  of  the  Senate,  Kiriloff,  and 
Golovin,  chief  of  the  Admiralty,  and  these  men  would 
hardly  have  consulted  the  opinions  of  Bering,  who  often 
and  most  emphatically  disapproved  of  the  additions  that 
had  been  made  to  his  plans.  Moreover,  as  a  result  of  the 

*  H.  H.  Bancroft,  History  of  Alaska,  p.  42,  says :  "  The  second  Kamchatka 
expedition  *****  was  the  most  brilliant  effort  toward  scientific 
discovery  which  up  to  this  time  had  been  made  by  any  government."— TB. 


74  VITUS   BERING. 

distrust  which  his  first  expedition  inspired  in  Kussia,  he 
was  in  an  insecure  and  unfortunate  position.  But  he 
had  reason  to  complain  of  other  things.  The  gigantic 
task  assigned  to  him  demanded  a  despotic  will  endowed 
with  dictatorial  power.  Bering  lacked  both,  especially 
the  latter. 

The  Senate  exhausted  itself  in  minute  hints,  direc- 
tions, and  propositions,  instead  of  issuing  definite  orders 
concerning  the  necessary  means.  Unfortunately,  too, 
numerous  and  exaggerated  complaints  had  been  made  in 
regard  to  the  suffering  which  Bering's  first  expedition 
had  caused  the  Kamchatkans,  and  on  this  account  the 
government  was  foolish  enough  to  bind  the  chief's  hands, 
while  it  simultaneously  overloaded  his  shoulders. 
Through  injudicious  instructions  he  was  made  dependent 
upon  his  subordinates.  It  was  bad  enough  that  he  was 
not  to  be  permitted  to  take  any  decisive  steps  in  Siberia 
without  first  consulting  and  coming  to  an  agreement  with 
the  local  authorities, —  the  governor  of  Tobolsk,  the  lieu- 
tenant-governor of  Irkutsk,  and  the  voivode  of  Yakutsk. 
On  account  of  the  great  distances  and  the  wretched 
roads  such  proceedings  were  well-nigh  impossible.  The 
government  should  have  known  that  these  authorities 
only  under  the  most  peremptory  orders  would  com- 
ply with  demands  liable  to  exhaust  the  resources  of  the 
country  and  ruin  the  thinly-populated  and  poverty- 
stricken  districts.  This  was,  indeed,  bad  enough,  but 
matters  were  much  aggravated  when  the  Senate  ordered 
him  to  take  action  in  all  important  questions,  only  after 
deliberation  with  his  officers,  and  to  refer  every  leading 
measure  to  a  commission.  Such  a  method  of  procedure 


BERING'S  GREAT  NORTHERN  EXPEDITION.         75 

seems  to  us  entirely  incomprehensible.  But  Sokoloff, 
who  was  himself  a  Russian  naval  officer,  says  on  this 
point,  that  the  laws  of  the  empire,  which  at  that  time 
were  in  full  force,  required  of  every  superior  officer  that 
he  should  consult  his  subordinates  before  inaugurating 
any  new  movement.  In  its  instructions  to  Bering  the 
Senate  expressly  emphasized  this  decree  of  the  law,  and 
it  actually  went  so  far  as  to  order  him,  even  in  matters  of 
comparative  unimportance,  to  seek  the  opinion  of  his 
Academical  associates,  and  always  act  in  the  strictest 
accordance  with  his  Russian  colleague  Chirikoff  s  propo- 
sitions. 

The  chiefs  of  the  different  branches  of  the  expedition 
were  of  course  subject  to  the  same  regulation.  In  this 
way  Bering  was  deprived  of  a  sovereign  chiefs  power  and 
authority,  and  it  afforded  him  but  little  reparation  that 
the  government  gave  him  the  power  to  reduce  or  promote 
an  officer, —  only  naval  officers,  however.  Necessary  re- 
gard for  the  needs  of  the  service  and  for  his  own  princi- 
ples forbade  him  to  use  this  weapon  in  that  arbitrary 
manner  which  alone  could  have  neutralized  the  unfor- 
tunate influence  of  the  government  laws.  Hence  this 
feature  of  his  instructions,  besides  causing  much  delay, 
became  a  source  of  the  most  incredible  troubles  and 
aggravations,  which,  as  we  shall  see  later,  laid  him  in  his 
grave  on  the  bleak  coasts  of  Bering  Island. 

Everything  carefully  considered,  it  could  have  sur- 
prised no  one  if  the  Northern  Expedition  had  collapsed 
in  its  very  greatness,  and  it  was  without  any  doubt  due  to 
Bering  that  this  did  not  happen.  In  many  respects 
Bering  was  unqualified  to  lead  such  an  expedition  into  a 


76  VITUS  BERING. 

barbarous  country,  surrounded  as  he  was  with  incapable, 
uneducated,  and  corruptible  assistants,  pestered  by  calum- 
niators and  secret  or  avowed  enemies  in  every  quarter,  to 
whom  the  government  seemed  more  disposed  to  listen 
than  to  him.  More  just  than  arbitrary,  more  considerate 
than  hasty,  more  humane  than  his  position  permitted,  he 
nevertheless  had  one  important  quality,  an  honest, 
genuine,  and  tenacious  spirit  of  perseverance,  and  this 
saved  the  expedition  from  dissolution.  The  government 
had  sent  him  in  pursuit  of  a  golden  chariot,  and  he 
found  more  than  the  linch-pin.  The  realization,  how- 
ever, was  far  from  that  anticipated  by  the  government. 
Many  of  the  projects  of  the  original  plan  were  but 
partially  accomplished,  and  others  were  not  even  at- 
tempted; but  in  spite  of  this,  the  results  attained  by 
Bering  and  his  associates  will  stand  as  boundary-posts 
in  the  history  of  geographical  discovery.  Many  of  these 
men  sealed  their  work  with  their  lives,  and  added  a 
luster  to  the  name  of  Russia,*  which  later  explorers  have 
maintained. 

*  Note  41. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  GREAT  NORTHERN  EXPEDITION  ON  ITS  WAY 
THROUGH  SIBERIA. —  DIFFICULTIES  AND  DANGERS 
ENCOUNTERED  AND  OVERCOME. 

TN  the  early  part  of  the  year  1733,  the  expedition 

•*•  began  to  leave  St.  Petersburg  by  detachments.  It 
consisted  of  the  chief  Vitus  Bering  (his  Eussian  name 
was  Ivan  Ivanovich  Bering),  Captains  Spangberg  and 
Chirikoff,  eight  lieutenants,  sixteen  mates,  twelve  physi- 
cians, seven  priests,  skippers,  stewards,  various  appren- 
tices, ship-carpenters,  other  workmen,  soldiers  and 
sailors, — in  all  about  five  hundred  and  seventy  men.  Of 
these,  three  officers  and  one  hundred  and  fifty-seven  men 
— a  number  which  was  greatly  increased  in  Siberia — 
were  assigned  duty  in  the  Arctic  expedition,  the  remain- 
der in  the  Pacific  expeditions.  In  this  estimate,  the 
Academists,  constituting  an  expedition  of  thirty  or  forty 
men,  are  not  considered.  The  list  of  names  of  those 
engaged  in  these  expeditions  throws  interesting  light  on 
Russian  social  relations  of  that  period.  Over  half  of  the 
officers,  many  mates,  and  all  of  the  physicians  were 
foreigners.  The  Senate  sought  to  inspire  the  zeal  of  the 
officers  by  large  increase  of  salary  and  promotion  in  rank 
and  service  after  a  successfully  completed  expedition,  but 
the  rank  and  file  were  to  be  forced  to  a  performance  of 

77 


78  VITUS  SEEING. 

their  duties  by  threats  of  cruel  punishments  and  a  con- 
tinued stay  in  Siberia.  It  had  been  the  intention  to 
recruit  the  expedition  through  the  voluntary  service  of 
Kussians,  but  the  native  officers  showed  but  little  inclina- 
tion in  this  direction,  and  it  was  found  necessary  to  fill 
the  vacancies  by  draft.  Van  Haven  assures  us  that 
Bering's  expedition  was  looked  upon  in  St.  Petersburg  as 
a  mild  sort  of  banishment. 

The  necessary  instruments  and  some  provisions  were 
obtained  in  St.  Petersburg.  The  naval  officers  were  sup- 
plied with  quadrants,  thermometers,  and  nocturnals,  the 
surveyors  with  astrolabes  and  G-unterVchains,  and  the 
Academists  were  authorized  to  take  from  the  library  of 
the  Academy  all  the  works  they  needed,  and,  at  -the 
expense  of  the  crown,  to  purchase  such  as  the  library  did 
not  contain.  La  Croyere  carried  with  him  a  whole 
magazine  of  instruments.  For  presents  to  the  natives 
two  thousand  rubles  were  appropriated.  In  N.  Novgorod 
and  Kazan  some  other  necessaries  were  obtained,  but 
the  enormous  ship-supplies  and  provisions,  besides  men, 
horses,  barges  and  other  river  boats,  were  to  be  provided 
by  the  Siberian  towns  and  country  districts. 

The  Siberian  authorities  received  orders  to  make  great 
preparations.  They  were  to  buy  venison,  fish,  and  cod 
liver  oil,  erect  light-houses  and  magazines  along  the 
Arctic  coast,  and  dispatch  commissions  with  large  trans- 
ports to  the  Pacific  coast,  so  as  to  enable  Bering  to  begin 
his  work  of  discovery  without  delay.  These  preparations 
were  to  be  followed  by  efforts  toward  the  founding  of 
various  works,  such  as  iron  and  salt  works  at  Okhotsk,  a 
smaller  furnace  at  Yakutsk  for  the  use  of  the  expedition, 


BERING'S  GREAT  NORTHERN  EXPEDITION.         79 

and,  through  the  utilization  of  the  saccharine  qualities 
of  the  "bear's  claw/'*  a  distillery  was  also  to  be 
established  on  the  peninsula  of  Kamchatka.  It  is 
unnecessary  to  say  that  all  of  these  propositions  were 
buried  in  the  Siberian  government  departments. 

Calculations  were  made  for  a  six  years'  expedition. 
The  leaders  of  each  branch  of  the  expedition  were 
authorized  to  repeat  any  unsuccessful  adventure  the 
succeeding  summer.  All  were  prepared  for  a  long 
stay  in  the  extreme  northeast — many,  indeed,  re- 
mained there  forever — hence,  most  of  the  officers, 
among  them  Bering  and  Spangberg,  were  accompa- 
nied by  their  wives  and  children.  On  this  account 
the  expedition  seemed  more  than  ever  a  national 
migration  on  a  small  scale. 

The  first  start  was  made  February  1,  1733. 
Spangberg,  with  some  laborers  and  the  heaviest  ma- 
rine stores,  went  directly  to  Okhotsk  to  expedite  the 
ship-building  on  the  Pacific  coast.  Lieutenant  Ofzyn 
went  to  Kazan  to  collect  supplies.  Bering  started 
out  March  18,  in  order  as  quickly  as  possible  to 
reach  Tobolsk,  whence  the  first  Arctic  expedition  was 
to  be  sent  out.  In  the  course  of  the  summer,  the 
larger  caravans  arrived  at  this  place.  Simultaneously 
heavy  supplies  were  brought  in  from  West  Siberia  by 
Bering's  men.  Here,  also,  the  construction  of  the 
vessel  for  the  expedition,  the  shallop  Tobol,  was 
begun.  Only  the  Academists  were  yet  in  St.  Peters- 
burg, where  they  were  receiving  the  attention  of  the 
official  world.  At  an  audience,  the  Empress  bade 

.*  Note  1. 


80  VITUS   BERING. 

them  farewell  in  the  most  solemn  manner.  She  al- 
lowed them  to  kiss  her  hand,  and  assured  them  of 
her  most  gracious  favor.  On  the  succeeding  day,  the 
other  members  of  the  imperial  family  manifested  sim- 
ilar sympathy.  Then,  however,  the  difficulties  began. 
That  these  heavily-laden  gentlemen  could  not  even  in 
St.  Petersburg  secure  adequate  means  of  transportation, 
makes  quite  a  comical  impression.  On  this  account 
they  were  detained  until  late  in  August,  and  they 
would  no  doubt  have  been  unable  to  reach  Siberia 
in  1733,  if  Bering  had  not  left  for  them  in  Tver  a 
conveniently  equipped  vessel,  which  carried  them  the 
same  autumn  down  the  Volga  to  Kazan.  They  did 
not  reach  Tobolsk,  however,  until  January,  1734. 
Bering,  who  was  to  be  supplied  by  them  with  sur- 
veyors and  instruments  for  his  Arctic  expedition,  and 
who  could  not,  before  their  arrival,  form  an  estimate 
of  the  size  of  his  river  transports  to  be  used  in  the 
spring,  was  obliged  repeatedly  and  very  forcibly  to 
urge  them  to  make  haste.  Here  the  disagreements 
began,  and  were  continued  concerning  petty  affairs, 
which  history  finds  it  unnecessary  to  dwell  upon. 

On  May  2,  1734,  the  Tobol  was  launched  amid  the 
firing  of  cannon,  the  blare  of  trumpets,  and  the  merry 
draining  of  goblets.  The  vessel  had  a  keel  of  70  feet, 
was  15  feet  wide,  and  7  feet  deep.  It  carried  two  masts, 
some  small  cannon,  and  a  crew  of  56  men,  among 
them  first  mate  Sterlegoff  and  two  cartographers, 
under  the  command  of  Lieut.  Ofzyn.  As  the  provin- 
cial government  had  secured  neither  magazines  nor  pro- 
visions, nor  attended  to  any  other  preparations  on  the 


BERING'S  GREAT  NORTHERN  EXPEDITION.         81 

Arctic  coast,  the  necessary  supplies,  which  were  to  be 
stored  north  of  Obdorsk,  were  loaded  on  four  rafts, 
which,  with  a  force  of  30  men,  accompanied  Ofzyn. 
On  May  14,  he  received  his  Admiralty  instructions  from 
Bering,  and,  saluted  by  cannon,  the  First  Arctic  Expe- 
dition stood  up  the  Irtish  for  the  Polar  seas. 

Five  days  later,  Bering,  with  the  main  command 
and  the  Academists,  left  Tobolsk  and  took  different 
routes  for  Yakutsk,  which  had  been  selected  as  the 
central  point  for  the  future  enterprises  of  the  expedi- 
tion. In  October,  1734,  he  arrived  at  this  place,  bring- 
ing with  him  a  quantity  of  materials.  The  next  spring, 
Chirikoff  came  with  the  greater  part  of  the  supplies, 
and  during  the  year  following,  this  dull  Siberian  city 
was  the  scene  of  no  little  activity.  On  his  arrival, 
however,  Bering  found  that  no  preparations  whatever 
had  been  made  for  him.  In  spite  of  instructions  and 
orders  from  the  government,  nothing  had  been  done 
toward  charting  the  Arctic  coast  or  for  the  expedit- 
ing of  the  heavily  loaded  transports  on  the  way  to 
Okhotsk.  Nor  did  Bering  find  that  the  authorities 
were  even  kindly  disposed  toward  him.  Yet,  in  the 
course  of  the  next  six  months,  he  had  two  large  ships 
built  for  the  Arctic  expedition,  and  when  his  own  sup- 
plies arrived  by  way  of  the  central  Siberian  river- 
route,  described  in  the  first  part  of  this  work,  these 
vessels,  together  with  four  barges,  were  equipped  and 
furnished  with  provisions,  and  in  June,  1735,  were 
ready  for  a  start.  These  two  ships — the  sloop  Yakutsk, 
Lieut.  Pronchisheff,  first  mate  Chelyuskin,  surveyor  Che- 
kin,  and  about  fifty  men,  and  the  decked  boat  Irkutsk, 


82  VITUS    BERING. 

Lieut.  Peter  Lassenius,  with  a  surveyor,  first  mate, 
and  also  about  fifty  men — had  most  difficult  tasks  to 
accomplish.  The  former  was  to  cruise  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Lena,  along  the  whole  coast  of  the  Taimyr 
peninsula,  and  enter  the  mouth  of  the  Yenisei.  The 
latter  was  to  follow  the  Arctic  coast  in  an  easterly 
direction  to  the  Bering  peninsula,  cruise  along  its  coast, 
and  ascertain  the  relative  positions  of  Asia  and  Amer- 
ica, and,  if  it  was  a  geographical  possibility,  to  sail 
down  to  the  peninsula  of  Kamchatka.  He  also  had 
instructions  to  find  the  islands  off  the  mouth  of  the 
Kolyma  (the  Bear  Islands).  From  this  it  is  evident 
that  Lassenius's  expedition  was  of  the  greater  geo- 
graphical interest.  Moreover,  it  had  to  do  with  one  of 
the  main  questions  of  Bering's  whole  activity — the  dis- 
covery and  charting  of  the  North  Pacific  —  and  hence 
it  is  not  a  mere  accident  that  Bering  selected  for  this 
expedition  one  of  his  own  countrymen,  or  that  he  as- 
signed the  charting  of  northeastern  Asia  and  the  discov- 
ery of  America  and  Japan,  to  chiefs  of  Danish  birth,  Las- 
senius and  Spangberg.  Nothing  is  known  of  the  earlier 
life  of  Lassenius.  In  service  he  was  the  oldest  of 
Bering's  lieutenants.  Shortly  before  the  departure 
of  the  expedition,  he  was  taken  into  the  Russian  fleet, 
and  Gmelin  says  of  him,  that  he  was  an  able  and 
experienced  naval  officer,  volunteered  his  services  to  the 
expedition,  and  began  his  work  with  intrepidity.  All 
attempts  to  trace  his  birth  and  family  relations  have 
proved  fruitless. 

On  the  30th  of  June,    1735,    both   expeditions  left 
Yakutsk,  and  thus  the  charting  of  the  whole  of   the 


BERING'S  GREAT  NORTHERN  EXPEDITION.         83 

Arctic  coast  of  Siberia  was  planned  and  inaugurated 
by  Bering  himself.  He  could  now  apply  all  his  ener- 
gies to  the  Pacific  expeditions.  He  constructed  a  mul- 
titude of  river-craft,  and  erected  barracks,  magazines, 
winter-huts,  and  wharves  along  the  river-route  to 
Okhotsk.  In  the  vicinity  of  Yakutsk  he  established  an 
iron  foundry  and  furnace,  whence  the  various  vessels 
were  supplied  with  anchors  and  other  articles  of  iron. 
In  fact,  he  made  this  place  the  emporium  for  those 
heavy  supplies  that  in  the  years  1735-36  were  brought 
from  South  and  West  Siberia,  and  which  later  were  to 
be  sent  to  Okhotsk. 

At  Okhotsk  the  exiled  Major-General  Pissarjeff  was 
in  command.  He  had  been  sent  there  as  a  govern- 
ment official,  with  authority  on  the  Pacific  coast  and 
in  Kamchatka,  to  develop  the  country  and  pave  the 
way  for  the  expeditions  to  follow,  by  making  roads 
and  harbors,  erecting  buildings  in  Okhotsk,  introduc- 
ing agriculture, —  in  fact,  make  this  coast  fit  for  human 
habitation.  The  government  had  given  him  ample 
power,  but  as  he  accomplished  nothing,  he  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Captain  Pavlutski  as  chief  in  Kamchatka, 
and  Pissarjeff  was  reduced  to  a  sort  of  harbor-master 
in  Okhotsk.  A  command  that  had  been  sent  to  his 
assistance  under  first  mate  Bireff,  he  nearly  starved  to 
death;  the  men  deserted  and  the  town  remained  the  same 
rookery  as  ever. 

In  this  condition  Spangberg  found  affairs  in  the 
winter  of  1734-35.  With  his  usual  energy  he  had 
pushed  his  transports  to  Yakutsk  in  the  summer  preced- 
ing, and  with  the  same  boats  he  proceeded  up  the 


84  VITUS   BERING. 

Aldan  and  Maya,  but  winter  came  on  and  his  boats 
were  frozen  in  on  the  Yudoma.  He  started  out  on  foot 
by  the  familiar  route  across  the  Stanovoi  Mountains  to 
Okhotsk,  which  place  he  reached  after  enduring  great 
hardship  and  suffering;  but  even  here  he  found  no 
roof  for  shelter.  He  was  forced  to  subsist  on  car- 
casses and  roots,  and  not  until  the  spring  fishing 
began  and  a  provision  caravan  sent  by  Bering  ar- 
rived, did  he  escape  this  dire  distress.  In  the  early 
summer,  Pissarjeff  put  in  an  appearance,  and  very 
soon  a  bitter  and  fatal  enmity  arose  between  these 
two  men. 

Spangberg  was  born  in  Jerne  near  Esbjerg  in  Jut- 
land (Denmark),  probably  about  the  year  1698.  He 
was  the  son  of  well-to-do  parents  of  the  middle 
class.  In  the  Jerne  churchyard  there  is  still  to  be  seen 
a  beautiful  monument  on  the  grave  of  his  brother, 
the  "  estimable  and  well-born  Chr.  Spangberg;" 
nothing  else  is  known  of  his  early  life.  In  1720,  he 
entered  the  Russian  fleet  as  a  lieutenant  of  the  fourth 
rank,  and  for  a  time  ran  the  packet-boat  between 
Kronstadt  and  Lubeck,  whereupon  he  took  part  in 
Bering's  first  expedition  as  second  in  command.  In 
1732,  for  meritorious  service  on  this  expedition,  he 
was  made  a  captain  of  the  third  rank.  He  was  an 
able,  shrewd,  and  energetic  man,  a  practical  seaman, 
active  and  vehement,  inconsiderate  of  the  feelings  of 
others,  tyrannical  and  avaricious.  He  spoke  the  Rus- 
sian language  only  imperfectly.  His  fame  preceded 
him  throughout  all  Siberia,  and  Sokoloff  says  that  many 
thought  him  some  general,  incognito,  others  an 


BERING'S  GREAT  NORTHERN  EXPEDITION.         85 

escaped  convict.  The  natives  of  Siberia  feared  him 
and  called  him  Martin  Petrovich  Kosar,  or  in  iron- 
ical praise,  "Batushka"  (old  fellow).  He  had  many 
enemies.  Complaints  and  accusations  were  showered 
upon  him,  but  it  would  most  certainly  be  wrong  to 
ascribe  to  them  any  great  significance.  Siberia  is  the 
land  of  slander.  All  Russian  officials  were  corrupti- 
ble, and  the  honest  men  among  those  who  stood 
nearest  to  Peter  himself  could  literally  be  counted 
on  one's  fingers.  While  in  Siberia,  Spangberg  is 
said  to  have  acquired  the  possession  of  many  horses, 
valuable  furs,  and  other  goods  of  which  the  author- 
ities had  forced  the  sale.  When  the  Senate,  after 
his  great  voyage  of  discovery  to  Japan,  had  treated 
him  unjustly,  he  left  Siberia  arbitrarily  in  1745, 
and,  without  leave  of  absence,  set  out  for  St.  Peters- 
burg, where  he  was  summoned  before  a  court-mar- 
tial and  condemned  to  death;  but  this  was  finally 
commuted  to  his  being  reduced  to  a  lieutenant  for 
three  months.  He  remained  in  the  service  and  died, 
in  1761,  as  a  captain  of  the  first  rank.  In  Okhotsk 
he  was  accompanied  by  his  wife  and  son.* 

But  his  opponent  was  a  still  more  remarkable 
man.  Major-General  Pissarjeff  had  been  a  favorite  of 
Peter  the  Great,  director  of  the  military  academy, 
and  a  high  officer  of  the  Senate.  He  had  received  a 
careful  education  abroad,  and  moved  in  the  very 
highest  circles  of  society.  In  a  quarrel  with  Vice- 
Chancellor  Shafiroff,  in  1722,  however,  he  had  incurred 
Peter's  wrath,  whereupon  he  was  for  a  time  deprived 

*  Note  42. 


86  VITUS   BERING. 

of  all  official  rank  and  banished  to  the  Ladoga  canal 
as  overseer  of  this  great  enterprise.  Later  he  was 
pardoned,  but  when,  in  1727,  he  conspired  against 
Prince  Menshikoff,  he  was  deprived  of  everything, 
knouted,  branded,  and  then  exiled  to  Siberia  as  a 
colonist.  After  a  series  of  vicissitudes  he  appeared, 
in  the  capacity  of  harbor-master  at  Okhotsk,  but  the 
government  gave  him  no  rank;  he  was  not  even  per- 
mitted to  cover  his  brand.  This  old  man,  made 
vicious  by  a  long  and  unjust  banishment,  became 
Bering's  evil  spirit.  In  spite  of  his  sixty  or  seventy 
years,  he  was  as  restless,  fiery  and  vehement  in  both 
speech  and  action  as  when  a  youth,  dissolute,  cor- 
ruptible, and  slanderous — a  false  and  malicious  bab- 
bler, a  full-fledged  representative  of  the  famous  Sibe- 
rian "school  for  scandal."  For  six  long  years  he 
persecuted  the  expedition  with  his  hatred  and  false- 
hoods, and  was  several  times  within  an  ace  of  overthrow- 
ing everything.  He  lived  in  a  stockaded  fort  a  few 
miles  in  the  country,  while  Spangberg's  quarters  were 
down  by  the  sea,  on  the  so-called  Kushka,  a  strip 
of  land  in  the  Okhota  delta,  where  the  town  was  to 
be  founded.  The  power  of  each  was  unrestrained. 
Both  were  dare-devils  who  demanded  an  obedience 
which  foretold  the  speedy  overthrow  of  each.  Both 
sought  to  maintain  their  authority  through  imprison- 
ment and  corporal  punishment.  Thus  they  wrangled 
for  a  year,  Pissarjeff,  meanwhile,  sending  numerous 
complaints  to  Yakutsk  and  St.  Petersburg.  But 
Spangberg  was  not  to  be  trifled  with.  In  the  fall 
of  1736  he  swore  that  he  would  effectually  rid  himself 


BERING'S  GBEAT  NORTHERN  EXPEDITION.        87 

of  "the  old  scoundrel, "  who  thereupon  in  all  haste 
fled  to  Yakutsk,  where  he  arrived  after  a  nine  days' 
ride,  and  filled  the  town  with  his  prattling  falsehoods, 
to  which,  however,  only  the  Academists  seem  to  have 
paid  any  attention. 

Tinder  circumstances  where  the  local  authorities  did 
everything  in  their  power  to  hinder  the  development 
of  a  district,  it  is  only  natural  that  in  the  settlement  of 
Okhotsk  and  the  construction  of  the  ships  for  the  expe- 
dition but  slow  progress  was  made.  The  enormous 
stores  which  were  necessary  for  six  or  eight  sea-going 
ships — provisions,  cannon,  powder,  cables,  hemp,  can- 
vas, etc.,  it  would  take  two  or  three  years  to  bring  from 
Yakutsk,  a  distance  both  long  and  tedious,  and  fraught 
with  danger.  The  work,  the  superhuman  efforts,  the 
forethought,  and  perseverance  that  Bering  and  his 
men  exhibited  on  these  transporting  expeditions  on  the 
rivers  of  East  Siberia  have  never  been  described  or 
understood,  and  yet  they  perhaps  form  the  climax  in 
the  events  of  this  expedition,  every  page  of  the  his- 
tory of  which  tells  of  suffering  and  thankless  toil. 

In  the  middle  of  the  17th  century,  those  Cossacks 
that  conquered  the  Amoor  country  had  opened  this 
river  navigation,  and  now  Bering  re-opened  it.  The 
stores  were  transported  down  the  Lena,  up  the  Aldan, 
Maya,  and  Yudoma  rivers,  thence  across  the  Stanovoi 
Mountains,  down  the  Urak,  and  by  sea  to  Okhotsk. 
These  transportations  at  first  employed  five  hundred 
soldiers  and  exiles,  and  later  more  than  a  thousand. 
The  season  is  very  short.  The  rivers  break  up  in  the 
early  part  of  May,  when  the  spring  floods,  full  of 


88  VITUS  BERING. 

devastating  drift-ice,  rise  twenty  or  thirty  feet  above 
the  average  level  and  sweep  along  in  their  course 
whole  islands,  thus  filling  the  river-bed  with  trunks 
of  trees  and  sand,  deluging  the  wild  rock-encircled 
valleys,  so  that  navigation  can  not  begin  until  the  latter 
part  of  May,  again  to  be  obstructed  in  August  by 
ice.  The  course  was  against  the  current,  so  the  crew 
had  to  walk  along  the  rough  and  slippery  banks  and 
tug  the  flat-bottomed  barges  up  stream.  In  this  way 
they  were  usually  able,  during  the  first  summer,  to 
reach  the  junction  of  the  Maya  and  the  Aldan  (Ust 
Maiskaya),  where  Bering  built  a  pier  and  a  number 
of  magazines,  barracks,  and  winter-huts.  Then  the 
next  summer,  the  journey  would  be  continued  up  the 
Maya  and  into  the  Yudoma,  which  boils  along  through 
an  open  mountain  valley  over  rocks,  stones,  and  water- 
logged tree  trunks.  It  has  but  two  or  three  feet  of 
water,  is  full  of  sand-banks,  with  a  waterfall  here  and 
there  and  long  rapids  and  eddies,  —  the  so-called 
"schiver."  In  such  places  the  current  was  so  strong 
that  thirty  men  were  scarcely  able  to  tug  a  boat 
against  it.  Standing  in  water  to  their  waists,  the  men 
were,  so  to  speak,  obliged  to  carry  the  barges.  The 
water  was  very  cauterizing,  and  covered  their  legs 
and  feet  with  boils  and  sores.  The  oppressive  heat  of 
the  day  was  followed  by  nights  that  were  biting  cold, 
and  when  new  ice  was  formed,  their  sufferings  were 
superhuman.  In  this  manner  Yudomskaya  Krest 
(Yudoma's  Cross)  was  reached  in  August  of  the  second 
year.  This  place,  where  since  the  days  of  the  Cos- 
sack expedition  a  cross  had  stood,  Bering  made  an 


BERING'S  GREAT  NORTHERN  EXPEDITION.         89 

intermediate  station  for  the  expedition.  Here  were  the 
dwellings  of  two  officers,  a  barrack,  two  earth-huts,  six 
warehouses,  and  a  few  other  buildings  and  winter- 
huts.  In  these  warehouses  the  goods  were  stored, 
to  be  conveyed,  in  the  following  winter,  on  horseback 
across  the  Stanovoi  Mountains  to  the  mountain  stream 
Urak,  which,  after  a  course  of  two  hundred  versts, 
reaches  the  sea  three  miles  south  of  Okhotsk. 

For  this  part  of  the  expedition,  new  winter-huts  on 
the  Stanovoi  Mountains,  and  magazines,  river  boats, 
and  piers  on  the  Urak  had  to  be  built.  This  river  is 
navigable  only  for  a  few  days  after  the  spring  thaw. 
Then  it  boils  along  at  the  rate  of  six  miles  an  hour, 
often  making  a  trip  down  its  course  a  dangerous  one. 
Losseff  says  that  in  this  way,  other  things  being  favor- 
able, Okhotsk  was  reached  in  three  years.  The  brief 
account  which  has  here  been  attempted  gives  but  a 
faint  idea  of  the  labor,  perseverance,  and  endurance 
requisite  to  make  one  of  these  expeditions.  Barges 
and  boats  had  to  be  built  at  three  different  places, 
roads  had  to  be  made  along  rivers,  over  mountains, 
and  through  forests,  and  piers,  bridges,  storehouses, 
winter-huts  and  dwellings  had  to  be  constructed  at 
these  various  places.  Not  only  this.  They  suffered 
many  misfortunes.  Boats  and  barges  were  lost,  men 
and  beasts  of  burden  were  drowned,  deserted,  or  were 
torn  to  pieces  by  wolves, —  and  all  these  difficulties 
Bering  and  his  assistants  overcame  through  their  own 
activity,  without  the  support  of  the  Siberian  govern- 
ment, yes,  in  spite  of  its  ill  will,  both  concealed  and 
manifest.  In  1737,  he  reported  to  the  Admiralty: 


90  VITUS   BERING. 

"Prior  to  our  arrival  at  Yakutsk  not  a  pood*  of  pro- 
visions had  been  brought  to  Okhotsk  for  us,  nor  had 
a  single  boat  been  built  for  the  transportation.  Nor 
did  we  find  workmen  or  magazines  at  the  landing 
places  on  the  Maya  and  Yudoma  rivers.  The  Siberian 
authorities  have  not  taken  a  single  step  toward  com- 
plying with  the  ukases  issued  by  Her  Koyal  Highness." 
And  with  justifiable  self-esteem  he  adds:  "We  did 
all  this.  We  built  transports,  we  obtained  workmen 
in  Yakutsk,  we  conveyed  our  provisions  to  Yudoms- 
kaya  Krest,  and  with  superhuman  efforts  thence  to 
the  sea.  At  the  mouths  of  the  Maya  and  Yudoma, 
at  the  Cross,  and  at  the  Urak  we  erected  storehouses 
and  dwellings,  in  the  Stanovoi  Mountains  several  win- 
ter-huts, and  on  the  Urak  no  less  than  seventy  river 
boats,  which  have,  in  part,  started  for  Okhotsk  with 
provisions.  Not  until  after  the  lapse  of  two  years 
have  I  been  able  to  induce  the  authorities  in  Yakutsk 
to  appoint  superintendents  of  transportation,  and  for 
this  reason  it  was  entirely  impossible  for  me  to  depart 
for  Okhotsk,  unless  I  wanted  to  see  the  work  of  the 
whole  expedition  come  to  a  complete  standstill,  bring 
upon  my  men  the  direst  need,  and  force  the  whole 
enterprise  into  most  ignominious  ruin." 

*  A  pood  is  thirty-six  pounds. 


CHAPTEE  X. 

DELAY  OF  THE  EXPEDITION  CAUSED  BY  THE  DEATH 
OF  LASSENIUS  AND  HIS  COMMAND  IN  THE  ARCTIC 
REGIONS.  —  DISSATISFACTION  OF  THE  SENATE  AND 
ADMIRALTY  WITH  BERING'S  WORK. 


difficulties  recounted  in  the  preceding  chapter 
•*-  are  alone  sufficient  to  justify  Bering's  nearly  three 
years'  stay  in  Yakutsk  ;  but  simultaneously  many  other 
duties  demanded  his  attention.  It  does  not  come  within 
the  scope  of  this  treatise  to  describe  the  investigations  of 
the  Academical  branch  of  this  enterprise,  —  to  portray 
Miiller's  and  Gmelin's  services  to  botany,  history,  and 
geography;  they  are  of  interest  here  only  in  their  relation 
to  Bering.  Especially  in  Yakutsk  did  these  men  give 
him  much  to  attend  to.  It  devolved  upon  him  now  to 
convey  these  gentlemen,  in  a  manner  fitting  their  station, 
up  or  down  the  Lena,  now  to  send  La  Croye"re  to  Lake 
Baikal  or  to  the  Arctic  Ocean,  —  all  of  which  was  to  be 
done  in  a  country  principally  inhabited  by  nomadic 
tribes,  with  only  here  and  there  a  Russian  population 
where  there  were  government  officials,  and  with  no  other 
means  of  transportation  than  those  secured  for  the  occa- 
sion. In  Yakutsk,  where  the  Professors  stayed  a  long 
time,  their  relations  with  Bering  were  very  much 
strained,  principally,  it  would  seem,  on  account  of  their 

91 


92  VITUS   BERING. 

exorbitant  demands  for  convenience  and  luxury.  Since 
Bering  would  not  and  could  not  take  upon  himself  to 
transport  them  to  Kamchatka  as  comfortably  as  he  had 
thus  far  conveyed  them,  especially  not  from  Okhotsk,  in 
private  and  conveniently  equipped  vessels,  and  since  the 
Voivode  likewise  gave  them  but  little  hope  of  support, 
both  Gmelin  and  Miiller  made  application  for  a  release 
from  the  expedition,  and  left  to  Krasheninnikoff  and 
Steller  their  principal  task — the  description  of  Kam- 
chatka. 

In  the  year  173G,  moreover,  very  discouraging  news  was 
received  from  the  Arctic  seas.  Pronchisheff  had  been 
obliged  to  go  into  winter  quarters  at  Olenek,  and  Lassen- 
ius,  who,  August  2,  had  reached  the  rocky  islet  Stolb,  in 
the  Lena  delta,  and  on  the  7th  stood  out  of  the  mouth  of 
the  Bykoff  eastward,  was  driven  by  storm  and  ice  into  the 
river  Khariulakh,  east  of  the  Borkhaya  Bay,  where  he 
wintered,  in  a  latitude  of  71°  28'.  The  place  was  uninhab- 
ited, and  he  built  from  driftwood  a  winter-house  66  feet 
long,  making  four  apartments,  with  three  fireplaces,  and 
a  separate  kitchen  and  bath-room.  As  Lassenius  hoped 
to  be  able  to  continue  the  expedition  during  the  two 
succeeding  summers,  the  rations  were  made  considerably 
smaller. 

November  6,  the  polar  night  began,  and  shortly  after- 
wards nearly  the  whole  crew  were  attacked  by  a  deadly 
scurvy,  so  violent  that  perhaps  only  Jens  Munk*  and  his 
fellow-sufferers  on  the  Churchill  River  have  experienced 
anything  worse.  On  the  19th  of  December  Lassenius 
died,  and  in  the  few  succeeding  months  nearly  all  of  his 

*Munkwas  sent  out  by  the  Danish  government  in  1619  to  search  fora 
Northwest  passage. — TB. 


BERING'S  GREAT  NORTHERN  EXPEDITION.         93 

officers  and  thirty-one  of  the  crew,  so  that  when  assistance 
from  Bering  arrived,  only  eight  men  were  alive.  Miiller 
and  Gmelin  say  that  the  crew  accused  Lassenius  of  high 
treason,  and  mutinied;  but  there  is  no  documentary  evi- 
dence of  this.  The  report  seems  to  have  arisen  through 
a  confounding  of  the  name  of  Lassenius  with  that  of  the 
deputy  constable  Rosselius,  who,  on  the  18th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1735,  was  sent,  under  arrest,  to  Yakutsk.  To  fill 
the  vacancies  caused  by  this  terrible  disease,  Bering  had  to 
send  a  whole  new  command — Lieut.  Dmitri  Laptjef,  the 
second  mate  Planting,  and  forty-three  men — to  Khariu- 
lakh  to  continue  the  expedition.  In  addition  to  this, 
two  boats  with  provisions  were  sent  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Lena,  and  in  1737,  before  he  himself  departed  for 
Okhotsk,  a  shipload  of  provisions  was  sent  to  supply  the 
magazines  on  the  Arctic  coast.  To  these  various  tasks 
Bering  gave  his  personal  attention. 

In  1736-38  this  great  enterprise  passed  through  a  dan- 
gerous crisis.  Several  years  had  elapsed  since  the  depart- 
ure from  St.  Petersburg,  three  hundred  thousand  rubles 
(over  two  hundred  thousand  dollars)  had  been  expended 
— an  enormous  sum  at  that  time—  and  yet  Bering  could 
not  point  to  a  single  result.  Lassenius  was  dead,  his  suc- 
cessor, D.  Laptjef,  had  been  unfortunate,  Pronchisheff 
had,  in  two  summers  of  cruising,  not  been  able  to  double 
the  Taimyr  peninsula,  Ofzyn  was  struggling  in  vain  in 
the  Gulf  of  Obi,  while  Bering  and  Spangberg  had  not 
begun  their  Pacific  expeditions.  The  former  had  not 
even  reached  the  coast.  The  government  authorities  at 
St.  Petersburg  were  in  the  highest  degree  dissatisfied  with 
this  seeming  dilatoriness.  The  Senate  sent  a  most  earnest 


94  VITUS   BERING. 

appeal  to  the  Admiralty  to  recall  the  expedition.  Here 
was  a  situation  that  Bering's  enemies  thought  favorable 
for  their  intrigues.  The  departments  of  the  Admiralty 
were  deluged  with  'complaints  and  accusations.  The 
Siberian  authorities,  of  whom  Bering  so  justly  had  com- 
plained, answered  with  counter-charges.  He  was  not  fa- 
miliar with  the  country,  they  said;  he  made  unreasonable 
demands,  and  did  not  know  how  to  avail  himself  of  means 
at  hand.  Pissarjeff  told  the  government  that  Bering  and 
Spangberg  had  undertaken  this  expedition  into  Siberia 
simply  to  fill  their  own  pockets, — that  they  accepted 
bribes,  carried  on  a  contraband  liquor  traffic,  and  had 
already  accumulated  great  wealth.  The  exiled  naval 
officer,  Kasanssoff,  reported  that  there  was  entire  lack  of 
system  in  the  enterprise;  that  everything  was  done  at  an 
enormous  expenditure,  and  that  nothing  at  all  would  be 
accomplished.  Lieutenant  Planting,  one  of  Bering's  own 
officers,  who  had  been  reduced  for  neglect  of  duty,  accused 
Bering  of  being  arbitrary,  extravagant,  and  fond  of  show 
at  the  expense  of  the  government.  He  accused  him,  fur- 
thermore, of  embezzlement  on  his  first  expedition,  in 
1725,  and  alleged  that  Bering's  wife  had  returned  to 
Russia  with  a  fortune,  and  had  in  Yakutsk  abducted  two 
young  women.* 

History  has  not  confirmed  a  single  one  of  these  charges. 
As  for  sacrifice,  disinterestedness,  and  zeal,  Bering  not 
only  rises  far  above  his  surroundings — which  is,  perhaps, 
not  saying  very  much — but  his  character  is  clean  and 
unsullied.  Even  so  petty  a  person  as  Sokoloff,  who,  in 
other  respects,  does  not  spare  him,  has  for  his  character 

*  Note  43. 


BERING'S  GREAT  NORTHERN  EXPEDITION.         95 

unqualified  praise.  Nevertheless,  all  of  these  complaints 
and  accusations  caused  Bering  much  trouble  and  vexation. 
The  Admiralty,  hard  pressed  by  the  Senate,  found  it  diffi- 
cult to  furnish  the  necessary  means  for  the  continuation 
of  the  expedition,  and  treated  Bering  severely  and  unrea- 
sonably. It  lacked  the  view  which  personal  examination 
gives.  It  was  beset  with  deceitf  ulness  and  circumvention, 
and  its  experiences  led  it  to  take  the  worst  for  granted. 
Hence,  it  sent  Bering  one  message  after  the  other  repre- 
hensive  of  his  course.  It  threatened  to  fine  him,  to 
court-martial  him,  to  reduce  him,  and,  in  1737,  it  even 
went  so  far  as  to  deprive  him  of  his  supplemental  salary, 
which  was  withheld  several  years.*  Bering  defended  him- 
self with  the  bitterness  of  despair.  In  his  reports  he  gave 
the  most  solemn  assurances  of  his  perseverance  and  fidelity 
to  duty,  and  the  most  detailed  accounts  of  all  difficulties. 
He  declared  upon  his  honor  that  he  was  unable  to  see  any 
other  means  or  resources  than  those  he  had  resorted  to.  He 
even  appealed  at  last  to  the  testimony  of  the  chiefs  of  the 
various  expeditions  and  all  the  subordinate  officers.  He 
was  not  believed.  The  Admiralty  showed  its  lack  of  tact 
by  letting  Chirikoff  investigate  a  series  of  charges  against 
him.  Furthermore,  in  spite  of  Bering's  most  urgent  rep- 
resentations, Pissarjeff  continued  to  retain  his  position  in 
Okhotsk;  and,  although  the  government  threatened  the 
Siberian  authorities  with  the  sternest  punishments,  still 
the  latter  only  very  inactively  participated  in  the  work  of 
the  expedition. 

Sokoloff  gives  a  very  repulsive  picture  of   Bering's 
assistants.     On  account  of  the  discomforts  of  the  journey 

*  Note  44. 


96  VITUS   BERING. 

in  this  barbaric  country,  and  under  the  pressure  of  cease- 
less toil,  a  large  number  of  the  subordinates  fell  to  drink- 
ing and  committing  petty  thefts;  and  the  officers,  gath- 
ered as  they  were  from  all  quarters  of  the  world,  are 
described  as  a  band  of  gruff  and  unruly  brawlers.  They 
were  always  at  sword's  points.  Pronchisheff  and  Lasse- 
nius,  Chirikoff  and  Spangberg,  the  latter  and  Walton, 
Planting,  Waxel,  Petroff  and  Endoguroff,  were  con- 
stantly wrangling,  and  at  times  most  shameful  scenes  were 
enacted.  Our  Russian  author  is  not  adverse  to  giving 
Bering  the  principal  blame  for  these  dissensions  which 
cast  a  gloom  on  this  worthy  undertaking  and  impaired 
the  forces  of  the  expedition.  He  repeatedly,  and  with 
much  force,  accuses  him  of  being  weak,  and  in  the  Impe- 
rial Marine  this  opinion  seems  yet  to  prevail.*  Sokoloff 
says:  "  Bering  was  a  well-informed  man,  eager  for  knowl- 
edge, pious,  kind-hearted,  and  honest,  but  altogether  too 
cautious  and  indecisive;  zealous,  persevering,  and  yet  not 
sufficiently  energetic;  well  liked  by  his  subordinates,  yet 
without  sufficient  influence  over  them, — too  much 
inclined  to  allow  himself  to  be  affected  by  their  opinions 
and  desires,  and  not  able  to  maintain  strict  discipline. 
Hence,  he  was  not  particularly  well  qualified  to  lead  this 
great  enterprise,  especially  in  such  a  dark  century  and  in 
in  such  a  barbaric  country  as  East  Siberia/'  I  do  not 
doubt  that  we  here  find  some  of  the  elements  of  Bering's 
character,  but  Sokoloff  was  much  more  of  an  archivist 
than  historian  and  student  of  human  nature.  In  his  long 
accounts  he  never  succeeds,  by  means  of  describing  any 
action  or  situation,  in  giving  a  pscychological  insight  into 

*  Note  45. 


BERING'S  GREAT  NORTHERN  EXPEDITION.         97 

Bering's  character,  and,  as  matters  now  stand,  it  is  impos- 
sible to  draw  any  tenable  line  between  the  errors  and 
delays  that  were  necessarily  attendant  upon  such  an  over- 
burdened enterprise,  and  those  that  were  due  to  the  pos- 
sible inefficiency  of  the  leader.  By  the  authority  of  the 
Senate  the  expedition  was  not  a  monarchical  unit  under 
Bering,  but  a  democratic  association  under  an  administra- 
tive chief.  It  is  not  difficult  to  collect  from  the  literature 
of  that  day  a  series  of  expressions  which  accuse  Bering  of 
cruelty,  imperiousness,  and  military  arrogance.  Of  a  hun- 
dred leaders  in  Bering's  position  ninety-nine  would 
undoubtedly  have  thought  it  wise  to  leave  the  whole  expe- 
dition. Steller  has  with  far  more  delicacy  and  skill  drawn 
the  main  lines  of  his  mental  physiognomy.  "  Bering 
was/'  he  says,  "a  true  and  honest  Christian,  noble,  kind, 
and  unassuming  in  conduct,  universally  loved  by  his  sub- 
ordinates, high  as  well  as  low.  Every  reasonable  person 
must  admit  that  he  always  sought  to  perform  the  work 
entrusted  to  him  to  the  best  of  his  ability,  although  he 
himself  confessed  and  often  regretted  that  his  strength 
was  no  longer  sufficient  for  so  difficult  an  expedition. 
He  deplored  the  fact  that  the  plans  for  the  expedition  had 
been  made  on  a  much  larger  and  more  extensive  scale  than 
he  had  proposed,  and  he  expressed  a  desire  that,  on  account 
of  his  age,  he  might  be  released  from  this  duty  and  have 
the  task  assigned  to  some  young  and  active  Eussian.  As 
is  well  known,  he  was  not  naturally  a  man  of  quick 
resolve,  but  when  one  considers  his  fidelity  to  duty,  his 
cheerful  spirit  of  perseverance  and  careful  deliberation,  it 
is  a  question  whether  another,  possessed  of  more  fire  and 
ardor,  could  have  overcome  the  innumerable  difficulties 


98  VITUS  BERING. 

of  the  expedition  without  having  completely  ruined  those 
distant  regions;  for  even  Bering,  far  removed  from  all 
selfishness,  was  scarcely  able  in  this  regard  to  keep  his 
men  in  check.  The  only  fault  of  which  the  brave  man 
can  be  accused,  is  that  his  too  great  leniency  was  as  detri- 
mental as  the  spirited  and  oftentimes  inconsiderate  con- 
duct of  his  subordinates."  It  is  undoubtedly  true  that 
Bering  was  not  fully  equal  to  the  task;  but  no  one  would 
have  been  equal  to  this  task.  It  is  possible  that  his 
humane  conduct  impaired  the  work  of  the  expedition,  but 
this  allegation  still  lacks  proof,  and  Sokoloff,  who  wrote 
his  book  as  a  vindication  of  Chirikoff  against  Von  Baer's 
sympathetic  view  of  Bering,  must  be  read  with  this  reser- 
vation. It  is  downright  absurd  to  hold  the  leader  respon- 
sible for  the  moral  weaknesses  of  his  officers,  for  he  had 
not  chosen  them,  and  was  as  dependent  upon  them  as 
they  upon  him.  "It  seems  to  me,"  says  Von  Baer, 
"that  Bering  has  everywhere  acted  with  the  greatest  cir- 
cumspection and  energy,  and  also  with  the  greatest  for- 
bearance. The  whole  expedition  was  planned  on  such  a 
monstrous  scale  that  under  many  another  chief  it  would 
have  foundered  without  having  accomplished  any  results 
whatever." 


CHAPTER  XI. 

FINAL    PREPARATIONS    FOR    THE    PACIFIC    EXPEDITIONS. 

IN  the  summer  of  1737,  Bering  changed  his  head- 
quarters to  Okhotsk,  and  in  the  course  of  the 
autumn  and  winter,  the  greater  part  of  his  force  was 
transferred  to  the  same  place  or  distributed  among  the 
various  intermediate  stations  on  the  Yudoma,  Maya, 
and  Urak.  Spangberg  and  Bering  built  Okhotsk.  At 
the  junction  of  the  Okhota  and  the  Kukhta,  on  one  of 
the  narrow  deltas,  the  so-called  Kushka,  they  erected 
a  church  for  the  expedition,  a  number  of  houses  for 
the  officers,  barracks,  magazines,  a  large  dock-yard, 
and  other  buildings.  The  old  stockaded  fort,  four 
miles  farther  up  in  the  country,  was  deserted.  Around 
the  military  center  of  the  expedition  the  town  gradu- 
ally formed  and  rapidly  grew  to  become  the  Russian 
metropolis  on  the  Pacific.  It  cost  very  great  exer- 
tions to  make  the  place  inhabitable.  The  site  was  a 
long  sand-bank  deposit,  threatened  by  inundations. 
The  climate  was  very  unhealthy,  —  a  cold,  raw  fog 
almost  continually  hung  over  this  region.  The  party 
was,  pestered  with  fevers,  and  in  this  swamp  it  was 
that  Bering  lost  his  health.  "The  place  is  new  and 
desolate/'  he  writes.  "We  have  sand  and  pebbles,  no 
vegetation  whatever,  and  no  timber  in  the  vicinity. 


100  VITUS   BERING. 

Firewood  must  be  obtained  at  a  distance  of  four  to 
five  miles,  drinking  water  one  to  two  miles,  while 
timber  and  joints  for  shipbuilding  must  be  floated 
down  the  river  twenty-five  miles."  But  as  a  place  for 
a  dock-yard,  as  a  harbor  and  haven  of  refuge  for  large 
ships,  the  location  had  such  great  advantages  that  these 
difficulties  had  to  be  overcome. 

Spangberg's  work  had  made  the  place.  His  men 
had  worked  clay,  made  tiles,  and  built  houses,  and 
when  Bering  arrived  the  ships  Archangel  Michael  and 
Hope  lay  fully  equipped  in  the  harbor.  Bering's 
old  ships  Fortuna  and  Gabriel  had  been  repaired, 
and  Spangberg  lacked  only  an  adequate  supply  of 
provisions  to  begin  his  expedition  to  Japan  in  the 
autumn  of  1737. 

But  the  provision  transports,  as  usual,  moved  on 
very  slowly  and  with  great  difficulty.  In  Okhotsk 
Spangberg's  men  were  constantly  in  distress.  They 
received  only  the  rations  of  flour  and  rice  authorized 
by  law,  and  at  long  intervals  some  beef  which  Bering 
had  bought  in  Yakutsk.  On  account  of  this  scarcity 
of  provisions  Spangberg  was  obliged  partially  to  stop 
work  on  the  vessels.  A  part  of  his  force  was  per- 
mitted to  go  a-fishing,  a  part  were  sent  to  the  maga- 
zines in  the  country  for  their  maintenance,  while 
others  were  detached  to  assist  in  the  work  of  trans- 
portation ;  hence  it  was  with  only  a  small  force  that 
he  could  continue  work  on  the  ships  for  the  American 
voyage,  the  packet-boats  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul. 

Sokoloff  says :  "  Bering  stayed  three  years  in  Ok- 
hotsk, exerting  himself  to  the  utmost  in  equipping 


BERING'S  GREAT  NORTHERN  EXPEDITION.       101 

expeditions,  enduring  continual  vexations  from  the 
Siberian  government  —  especially  on  account  of  Pissar- 
jeff —  and  conducting  frequent  examinations  and  investi- 
gations into  the  quarrels  and  complaints  of  his  subor- 
dinates. During  all  this  time  he  was  sternly  and 
unreasonably  treated  by  the  Admiralty,  which  show- 
ered upon  him  threats  and  reproaches  for  slowness 
sluggishness,  and  disorder,  for  false  reports  and  ill- 
timed  accounts/'  Even  as  late  as  1740  the  Senate 
made  a  proposition  to  discontinue  the  expedition,  and 
only  by  calling  attention  to  the  enormous  expenditures 
already  made,  which  would  in  that  case  be  completely 
wasted,  was  the  Admiralty  allowed  to  continue  it. 
Bering  was  especially  disheartened  on  account  of  Pis- 
sarjeff.  The  latter  arrived  at  Okhotsk  at  the  same 
time  that  Bering  did,  took  up  his  abode  in  the  old  Ostrog 
(fort)  and  immediately  began  his  malicious  annoy- 
ances. His  complaints  and  protests  poured  into  head- 
quarters at  Okhotsk.  "For  a  correspondence  with 
him  alone,"  writes  Bering,  "I  might  use  three  good 
secretaries.  I  find  his  foul-tongued  criticism  extremely 
offensive."  He  would  capture  Bering's  men  to  give 
them  a  drubbing,  while  his  own  deserted  him  to  join 
Bering,  by  whom  they  were  kindly  received.  The 
new  town  and  the  Ostrog  were  two  hostile  camps. 
Finally  Bering  was  compelled  to  make  a  sally  to  liber- 
ate his  men.  The  intrepid  Spangberg,  entirely  out  of 
patience  with  Bering's  leniency,  said:  "Why  do  you 
give  yourself  so  much  trouble  about  this  old  knave? 
Give  me  four  men  and  the  authority  and  I  shall  im- 
mediately put  him  under  arrest." 


102  VITUS  BERING. 

Finally,  in  1738,  Spangberg  found  it  possible  to 
depart  for  Japan,  and  in  two  summer  expeditions  he 
charted  the  Kurile  Islands,  Yezo,  and  a  part  of  the 
eastern  coast  of  Nipon  (Hondo),  whereupon  the  car- 
tography of  this  part  of  the  globe  assumed  an  entirely 
new  appearance. 

The  expeditions  to  Japan,  which  employed  four 
ships  and  several  hundred  men,  had  exhausted  all  the 
provisions  in  Okhotsk.  It  was  again  necessary  to  raise 
large  supplies  in  West  Siberia.  A  demand  was  made 
upon  the  government  office  in  Tobolsk  for  40,000 
rubles.  From  the  district  of  Verkhoiansk  50,000 
poods  of  provisions,  while  in  part  from  West  Siberia 
and  in  part  from  the  Admiralty  20,000  yards  of  cloth 
were  received.  From  other  very  distant  places  oil, 
hemp,  and  other  necessaries  were  obtained.  The  Admi- 
ralty despatched  to  Irkutsk  and  Yakutsk  two  naval 
officers,  Lieutenants  Tolbukhin  and  Larionoff,  to  super- 
intend the  transportation  of  these  goods.  The  num- 
ber of  laborers  was  increased  to  a  thousand,  the  roads 
were  improved,  more  attendants  were  provided,  the 
Siberian  authorities  exhibited  more  energy  than  before, 
new  river-boats  were  constructed,  and  pack-horses  were 
collected  from  a  large  radius  of  country ;  by  these 
increased  means  it  was  possible  to  collect  all  necessa- 
ries in  Okhotsk  by  1740.  In  the  month  of  June  the 
ships  for  the  American  expedition,  the  St.  Peter  and 
the  St.  Paul,  were  launched.  They  were  two-masters, 
80  feet  long,  22  feet  wide,  and  9£  feet  deep,  rigged 
as  brigs,  each  of  108  tons  burden,  carrying  14  two 
and  three  pound  guns. 


BERING'S  GREAT  NORTHERN  EXPEDITION.       103 

In  the  harbor  and  on  the  Sea  of  Okhotsk  there  was 
now  quite  a  respectable  fleet  of  eight  or  nine  ships, 
all  built  by  Bering.  The  Arctic  coasts  had  been 
charted  through  his  efforts.  Spangberg  had  with  great 
success  completed  his  task,  and  had  been  sent  by 
Bering  to  St.  Petersburg  to  render  a  report.  Bering's 
own  force,  which  consisted  of  166  men,  besides  80 
engaged  in  transporting,  was  now  collected  in  Okhotsk. 
The  astronomical  department  under  La  Croy^re  and 
the  scientist  Steller  also  arrived,  and  finally  Bering 
had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  his  worst  enemy  removed. 
In  August,  1740,  Pissarjeff  was  discharged,  and  poor 
Antoni  Devier,  first  a  cabin  boy,  then  successively  aid- 
de-camp,  general,  and  chief  of  police  in  St.  Petersburg 
—  one  of  Peter  the  Great's  most  trusted  companions 
in  arms,  but  banished  through  the  hatred  of  Men- 
shikoff  —  became  his  successor  as  harbor-master  in 
Okhotsk.* 

In  the  middle  of  August  the  packet-boats,  the 
galley  Okhotsk,  ar.d  a  double  sloop  containing  the 
scientists  were  ready  to  sail  for  Kamchatka.  Then 
Spangberg  quite  unexpectedly  arrived.  On  his  way 
home  he  had  received  a  counter  order.  The  authori- 
ties in  St.  Petersburg  commanded  him  to  repeat  the 
expedition  to  Japan.  This  gave  Bering  some  extra 
work  in  the  way  of  letters  and  orders,  so  that  the 
vessels  under  Bering's  and  Chirikoff's  commands  did 
not  leave  port  until  the  8th  of  September.  They 
were  supplied  with  provisions  for  twenty  months,  and 
their  temporary  destination  was  Avacha  Bay  on  the 

*  Note  46. 


104  VITUS   BERING. 

east  coast  of  Kamchatka,  where  they  were  to  pass  the 
winter.  All  the  great  enterprises  which  the  govern- 
ment had  instructed  Bering  to  undertake  had  now 
been  begun.  In  the  following  chapters  will  be  found 
a  succinct  account  of  the  results  of  each. 


PART    III. 


THE  VARIOUS  EXPEDITIONS. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS. — THE  NORTHEAST   PASSAGE. — 
SEVERE   CRITICISMS   ON   NORDENSKJOLD. 

rjiHE  Arctic  expeditions  made  during  the  period  from 
-L  1734  to  1743  have  only  in  part  any  connection  with 
the  object  of  this  work.  These  expeditions  were,  it  is 
true,  planned  by  Bering,  and  it  was  due  to  his  activity 
and  perseverance  that  they  were  undertaken.  He  secured 
vessels,  men,  and  means,  and  had  charge  of  the  first  unsuc- 
cessful attempt;  he  was  responsible  to  the  government, 
and  in  his  zeal  went  just  as  far  as  his  instructions  would 
allow  him.  But  his  own  special  task  soon  taxed  his  time 
too  heavily  to  permit  him  to  assume  charge  of  the  Arctic 
expeditions.  They  were  not  carried  out  until  several 
years  after  his  departure  from  Yakutsk, —  after  he  had 
ceased  to  be  their  leader.  We  have  already  shown  Ber- 
ing's important  relation  to  them,  something  which  has 
never  before  been  done  in  West  European  literature. 
Hence  our  object,  namely,  to  give  Bering  his  dues,  may 
therefore  best  be  accomplished  by  giving  a  short  account 
of  the  results  achieved  by  these  expeditions. 

The  world  has  never  witnessed  a  more  heroic  geograph- 
ical enterprise  than  these  Arctic  expeditions.  In  five  or 
six  different  directions — from  the  Petchora,  the  Obi,  the 
Yenesei,  and  the  Lena — the  unknown  coasts  of  the  Old 

107 


108  VITUS   BERING. 

World  were  attacked.*  For  a  whole  decade  these  discov- 
erers struggled  with  all  the  obstacles  which  a  terrible 
climate  and  the  resources  of  a  half  developed  country 
obliged  them  to  contend  with.  They  surmounted  these 
obstacles.  The  expeditions  were  renewed,  two,  three, 
yes,  even  four  times.  If  the  vessels  were  frozen  in,  they 
were  hauled  upon  shore  the  next  spring,  repaired,  and  the 
expedition  continued.  And  if  these  intrepid  fellows  were 
checked  in  their  course  by  masses  of  impenetrable  ice, 
they  continued  their  explorations  on  dog  sledges,  which 
here  for  the  first  time  were  employed  in  Arctic  explora- 
tion. Cold,  scurvy,  and  every  degree  of  discomfort 
wrought  sad  havoc  among  them,  but  many  survived  the 
long  polar  winter  in  miserable  wooden  huts  or  barracks. 
Nowhere  has  Russian  hardiness  erected  for  itself  a  more 
enduring  monument. 

It  was  especially  the  projecting  points  and  peninsulas 
in  this  region  that  caused  these  explorers  innumerable 
difficulties.  These  points  and  capes  had  hitherto  been 
unknown.  The  crude  maps  of  this  period  represented 
the  Arctic  coast  of  Siberia  as  almost  a  straight  line.  It 
was  first  necessary  for  the  navigators  to  send  cartographers 
to  these  regions,  build  beacons  and  sea-marks,  establish 
magazines,  collect  herds  of  reindeer,  which,  partly  as  an 
itinerant  food  supply,  and  partly  to  be  used  as  an  eventual 

*  Middendorfr*gives  the  following  interesting  outline  of  these  expeditions : 
From  Petchora  to  the  Obi :  From  the  Obi : 

Muravjoff  and  Pavloff.  Westward-       Eastward: 

Malygin  and  Skuratoff.  Golovin.  Ofzyn. 

Minin. 

Koscheleff. 

From  the  Yenesei :  From  the  Lena: 

Eastward:  Westward:       Eastward: 

Minin.  Pronchisheff.  Lasseuius. 

Chariton  Laptjef.     Dmitri  Lnptjef. 


THE   VARIOUS   EXPEDITIONS.  109 

means  of  conveyance,  followed  along  the  coast  with  the 
vessels,  while  here  and  there,  especially  on  the  Taimyr 
peninsula,  small  fishing  stations  were  established  for  sup- 
plying the  vessels. 

In  the  summer  of  1737  Malygin  and  Skuratoff  crossed 
the  Kara  Sea  and  sailed  up  the  Gulf  of  Obi.  In  the 
same  year  the  able  Ofzyn  charted  the  coast  between  the 
Obi  and  the  Yenesei,  but  was  reduced  to  the  rank  of  a 
common  sailor,  because  in  Berezov  he  had  sought  the 
company  of  the  exiled  Prince  Dolgoruki. 

In  the  year  previous,  Pronchisheff  all  but  succeeded 
in  doubling  the  Taimyr  peninsula,  and  reached  the 
highest  latitude  (77°  29')  that  had  been  reached  by  water 
before  the  Vega  expedition.  But  it  was  especially  in  the 
second  attempt,  from  1738  to  1743,  that  the  greatest 
results  were  attained.  The  two  cousins,  Chariton  and 
Dmitri  Laptjef,  who  were  equipped  anew  and  vested  with 
great  authority,  attacked  the  task  of  doubling  the 
Taimyr  and  Bering  peninsulas  with  renewed  vigor.  By 
extensive  sledging  expeditions,  the  former  linked  his 
explorations  to  those  undertaken  by  Minin  and  Sterlegoff 
from  the  west,  and  his  mate,  Chelyuskin,  in  1742, 
planted  his  feet  on  the  Old  World's  most  northerly  point, 
and  thus  relegated  the  story  of  a  certain  Jelmerland,  said 
to  connect  northern  Asia  with  Novaia  Zemlia,  to  that 
lumber-room  which  contains  so  many  ingenious  carto- 
graphical ideas.  But  even  these  contributions  to  science 
were,  perhaps,  surpassed  by  those  of  Dmitri  Laptjef.  As 
Lassenius's  successor  he  charted,  in  three  summers,  the 
Siberian  coast  from  the  Lena  to  the  great  Baranoff  Cliff, 
a  distance  of  thirty-seven  degrees.  On  this  coast,  toward 


110  VITUS   BERING. 

the  last,  he  found  himself  in  a  narrow  strait,  from  ten  to 
twenty  yards  wide,  and  he  did  not  stop  until  there  was 
scarcely  a  bucketful  of  water  between  the  polar  ice  and 
the  rocky  shore.  But  Cape  Schelagskii,  on  the  northeast 
coast,  where  Deshneff  a  century  before  had  shown  the 
way,  he  did  not  succeed  in  doubling. 

As  a  result  of  the  labors  of  this  great  Northern 
Expedition,  the  northern  coast  of  the  Old  World 
got  substantially  the  same  cartographical  outline  that 
it  now  has.  The  determinations  of  latitude  made  by 
the  Russian  officers  were  very  accurate,  but  those  of 
longitude,  based  on  nautical  calculations,  were  not  so 
satisfactory.  Their  successors,  Wrangell,  Anjou,  Mid- 
dendorff,  and  even  Nordenskjold,  have  therefore  found 
opportunity  to  make  corrections  of  but  minor  import- 
ance, especially  in  regard  to  longitude. 

But  it  is  necessary  to  dwell  a  little  longer  on 
these  expeditions.  Their  principal  object  was  not  so 
much  the  charting  of  northern  Siberia  as  the  dis- 
covery and  navigation  of  the  Northeast  passage. 
From  this  point  of  view  alone  they  must  be  consid- 
ered. This  is  the  connecting  thought,  the  central 
point  in  these  scattered  labors.  They  were  an  indi- 
rect continuation  of  the  West  European  expeditions 
for  the  same  purpose,  but  far  more  rational  than 
these.  For  this  reason  Bering  had,  on  his  expedi- 
tion of  reconnoissance  (1725-30),  first  sought  that 
thoroughfare  between  the  two  hemispheres  without 
which  a  Northeast  and  a  Northwest  passage  could 
not  exist.  For  this  reason  also  he  had,  on  his  far- 
sighted  plan,  undertaken  the  navigation  of  the  Arctic 


THE  VARIOUS   EXPEDITIONS.  Ill 

seas,  where  this  had  not  already  been  done  by  Deshneff, 
and  for  this  same  reason  the  Admiralty  sought  carefully 
to  link  their  explorations  to  the  West  European  termini, 
on  the  coast  of  Novaia  Zemlia  as  well  as  Japan.  More- 
over, the  discovery  of  a  Northeast  passage  was  the  raison 
d'etre  of  these  expeditions. 

This  alone  promised  the  empire  .such  commercial 
and  political  advantages  that  the  enormous  expendi- 
tures and  the  frightful  hardships  which  these  expe- 
ditions caused  Siberia,  might  be  justified.  For  this 
reason  the  government,  summer  after  summer,  drove 
its  sailors  on  along  the  Taimyr  and  Bering  penin- 
sulas; for  this  reason,  in  1740,  it  enjoined  upon 
D.  Laptjef  to  make  a  last  attempt  to  double  north- 
east Asia  from  Kamchatka,  and  this  would  undoubt- 
edly have  been  accomplished  if  the  unfortunate  death 
of  Bering  had  not  occurred  shortly  after;*  and  for  this 
reason,  also,  the  government  caused  the  charting  of  the 
coast  by  land  after  all  nautical  attempts  had  miscarried. 

Any  extended  documentary  proof  of  the  correctness  of 
this  view  must  be  considered  unnecessary.  The  instruc- 
tions expressly  state  the  object  of  the  expedition:  to 
ascertain  with  certainty  whether  vessels  could  find  a 
passage  or  not.  Muller  says  the  same.  Scholars  like 
Middendorff,  Von  Baer,  and  Dr.  Petermann  look  upon 
these  expeditions  from  the  same  standpoint,  and  have 
seen  fit  to  give  them  the  place  of  honor  among  all  the 
geographical  efforts  in  the  Northeast  passage,  f  Some 
Swedish  scholars  alone  have  found  it  necessary  to  main- 
tain a  different  view.  Dr.  A.  Stuxberg  and  Prof.  Th. 

*  Note  47.          t  Note  48. 


112  VITUS   BERING. 

M.  Fries  in  Upsala  have  published  accounts  of  the  his- 
tory of  the  Northeast  passage,  in  which  not  a  word  about 
these  expeditions  is  found.  Between  the  days  of  Vlam- 
ing  and  Cook,  from  1688  until  1778,  they  find  nothing 
to  be  said  of  explorations  in  this  part  of  the  world,  and 
the  charting  of  these  waters  does  not,  in  their  opinion, 
seem  to  have  any  connection  with  the  history  of  the 
Northeast  passage.  Prof.  Fries  attempts  to  justify 
this  strange  method  of  treatment  by  the  assertion  that 
these  expeditions  did  not  seek  the  navigation  of  the 
Northeast  passage,  and  did  not  undertake  to  sail  a  ship 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.  But  what  authority, 
what  historical  foundation,  have  such  assertions  ?  Simply 
because  the  Kussians  parceled  out  this  work  and  went  at 
it  in  a  sensible  manner;  because  they  did  not  loudly 
proclaim  their  intention  to  sail  directly  from  the  Dwina 
to  Japan ;  because  they  had  been  instructed  by  the 
visionary  and  fatal  attempts  of  West  Europe, — yes,  one 
is  almost  tempted  to  say,  just  because  these  Eussian 
expeditions  alone  are  of  any  importance  in  the  early 
history  of  the  passage,  the  Swedish  historians  pass  them 
by ;  Prof.  Fries  has  even  ventured  the  assertion  that  the 
discovery  of  the  Northeast  passage  by  these  Russian 
expeditions,  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven  years  before 
Nordenskjold,  is  a  discovery  hitherto  unsurmised  by 
anyone  but  the  author  of  this  work.  I  am  not  dis- 
posed to  wrangle  about  words,  and  still  less  to  interfere 
with  anyone's  well-earned  privileges.  By  the  discovery 
of  the  Northeast  passage,  I  understand  that  work  of 
geographical  exploration,  that  determination  of  the  dis- 
tribution of  land  and  water  along  the  northern  boundary 


THE   VARIOUS    EXPEDITIONS.  113 

of  the  Old  World,  that  traversing  and  charting  of  the 
coast  which  showed  the  existence  of  the  passage,  but 
not  the  nautical  utilization  of  it.  This  is  the  European 
interpretation  of  this  question.  In  any  other  sense 
McClure  did  not  discover  the  Northwest  passage.  If  it  is 
permissible  to  speak  of  the  discovery  of  the  Northeast 
passage  after  the  time  of  Bering  and  the  Great  Northern 
Expedition,  it  is  equally  permissible  to  speak  of  the 
discovery  of  the  Northwest  passage  after  the  time  of  the 
great  English  expeditions.  If  some  future  Nordenskjold 
should  take  it  into  his  head  to  choose  these  waters  as 
the  scene  of  some  great  nautical  achievement,  McClure, 
according  to  Prof.  Fries 's  historical  maxims,  could  not 
even  find  a  place  in  the  history  of  this  passage,  for  it 
was  not  his  object  to  sail  a  ship  around  the  north  of 
the  New  World.  I  very  much  doubt,  however,  that  the 
Professor  would  in  such  a  case  have  the  courage  to 
apply  his  maxims. 

Nor  does  Baron  Nordenskjold  concede  to  the  Great 
Northern  Expedition  a  place  in  the  history  of  the  North- 
east passage.  The  "Voyage  of  the  Vega"  is  an  imposing 
work,  and  was  written  for  a  large  public,  but  even  the 
author  of  this  work  has  not  been  able  to  rise  to  an 
unbiased  and  just  estimate  of  his  most  important  pre- 
decessors. His  presentation  of  the  subject  of  Eussian 
explorations  in  the  Arctic  regions,  not  alone  Bering's 
work  and  that  of  the  Great  Northern  Expedition,  but 
also  WrangelPs,  Liitke's,  and  Von  Baer's,  is  unfair, 
unsatisfactory,,  inaccurate,  and  hence  misleading  in 
many  respects.  Nordenskj  old's  book  comes  with  such 
overpowering  authority,  and  has  had  such  a  large 


114  VITUS   BERING. 

circulation,  that  it  is  one's  plain  duty  to  point  out  palpa- 
ble errors.  Nordenskjold  is  not  very  familiar  with  the 
literature  relating  to  this  subject.  He  does  not  know 
Berch's,  Stuckenberg's,  or  Sokoloff's  works.  Midden- 
dorff's  and  Von  Baer's  clever  treatises  he  uses  only  inci- 
dentally. He  has  restricted  himself  to  making  extracts 
from  WrangelFs  account,  which  in  many  respects  is  more 
than  incomplete,  and  does  not  put  these  expeditions  in 
the  right  light.  It  is  now  a  couple  of  generations  since 
WrangelFs  work  was  written,  which  is  more  a  general 
survey  than  an  historical  presentation.  While  Norden- 
skjold devotes  page  after  page  to  an  Othere's,  an  IvanofPs, 
and  a  Martinier's  very  indifferent  or  wholly  imaginary 
voyages  around  northern  Norway,  he  disposes  of  the  Great 
Northern  Expedition,  without  whose  labors  the  voyage 
of  the  Vega  would  have  been  utterly  impossible,  in  five 
unhappily  written  pages.  One  seeks  in  vain  in  his  work 
for  the  principal  object  of  the  Northern  Expedition, — 
for  the  leading  idea  that  made  these  magnificent  enter- 
prises an  organic  whole,  or  for  a  full  and  just  recognition 
of  these  able,  and,  in  some  respects,  unfortunate  men, 
whose  labors  have  so  long  remained  without  due  appreci- 
ation. In  spite  of  Middendorff's  interesting  account  of 
the  cartography  of  the  Taimyr  peninsula,  Nordenskjold 
does  not  make  the  slightest  attempt  to  explain  whether 
his  corrections  of  the  cartography  of  this  region  are 
corrections  of  the  work  of  Laptjef  and  Chelyuskin,  or  of 
the  misrepresentations  of  their  work  made  by  a  later  age. 
About  the  charting  of  Cape  Chelyuskin  he  says: 
"This  was  done  by  Chelyuskin  in  1742  on  a  new  sledging 
expedition,  the  details  of  which  are  but  little  known; 


THE   VABIOUS   EXPEDITIONS.  115 

evidently  because  until  the  most  recent  times  there  has 
been  a  doubt  in  regard  to  Chelyuskin's  statement  that 
he  had  reached  the  most  northerly  point  of  Asia. 
After  the  voyage  of  the  Vega,  however,  there  can  no 
longer  be  any  doubt. "  * 

The  truth  is,  ever  since  1843,f  when  Middendorff 
published  the  preliminary  account  of  his  expedition  to 
the  Taimyr  peninsula,  no  doubt  has  prevailed  that  all 
who  are  familiar  with  Kussian  literature,  or  even  with 
German  literature,  on  this  subject,  have  long  since  been 
convinced  of  the  fact  that  the  most  northern  point  of 
Asia  was  visited  and  charted  a  century  and  a  half  ago, — 
that  the  details  of  Chelyuskin's  expedition,  so  far  from 
being  unknown,  are  those  parts  of  the  work  of  the  North- 
ern Expedition  which  have  been  most  thoroughly  investi- 
gated and  most  often  presented.  Nordenskjold's  recogni- 
tion of  Chelyuskin's  work  comes  thirty-eight  years  too  late; 
it  has  already  been  treated  with  quite  a  different  degree 
of  thoroughness  than  by  the  few  words  expended  on  it  in 
the  "Voyage  of  the  Vega."  In  1841,  Von  Baer  accused 
Chelyuskin  of  having  dishonestly  given  the  latitude  of 
the  most  northerly  point  of  Asia,  and  these  charges  Nor- 
denskjold  prints  as  late  as  1881  without  any  comment 
whatever.  If  he  had  only  seen  Von  Baer's  magazine  for 
1845  J  he  would  there  have  found  the  most  unreserved 
retraction  of  them  and  most  complete  restitution  to  Chel- 
yuskin on  the  part  of  Von  Baer,  and  would  thus  have 
escaped  ascribing  to  a  man  opinions  which  he  renounced 
a  generation  ago.  Middendorff  is  likewise  very  pains- 
taking in  presenting  the  history  of  these  measurements, 

*Note  49,          tNote  50.          JNote  51. 


116  VITUS  BERING. 

and  is  open  and  frank  in  his  praise.  He  says:  "In  the 
spring  of  1742  Chelyuskin  crowned  his  work  by  sailing 
from  the  Khatanga  Kiver  around  the  eastern  Taimyr 
peninsula  and  also  around  the  most  northerly  point  of 
Asia.  He  is  the  only  one  who  a  century  ago  had  suc- 
ceeded in  reaching  and  doubling  this  promontory.  The 
fact  that  among  many  he  alone  was  successful  in  this 
enterprise,  must  be  attributed  to  his  great  ability.  On 
account  of  his  perseverance,  as  well  as  his  careful  and 
exact  measurements,  he  stands  preeminent  among  sea- 
men who  have  labored  in  the  Taimyr  country."  And 
furthermore,  in  1785,  Sokoloff  published  a  very  careful 
and  extensive  account  of  these  labors,  together  with  an 
extract  from  Chelyuskin's  diary  relating  to  the  charting 
of  the  Taimyr  peninsula,  which  later  was  published  in 
German  by  Dr.  Petermann.*  The  difference  in  latitude 
of  the  northern  point  of  the  Taimyr  peninsula  as  deter- 
mined by  Chelyuskin  and  by  Nordenskjold  is  scarcely 
three  minutes,  f 

*  Note  58. 

t  In  his  review  of  my  book  in  the  Journal  of  the  American  Geographical 
Society,  XVII.,  p.  288,  Baron  Nordenskjold  says:  "Mr.  Lauridsen  has  devoted 
nearly  two  pages  to  showing  that  I  am  wrong  in  what  I  have  said  of  Chel- 
yuskin— that  'up  to  a  recent  date  the  statement  that  he  really  did  reach  the 
northern  point  of  Asia  was  doubted.'  But  I  had  certainly  the  right  to  say 
this.  If  a  person  in  1742  performed  one  of  the  heroic  deeds  of  geography 
without  having  received  any  acknowledgment  for  it  in  his  lifetime,  and  if 
the  best  authorities  in  this  person's  own  country  a  century  later  still  consid- 
ered him  an  impostor,  I  was  surely  justified  in  giving  the  above-quoted  opin- 
ion in  1880,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  two  eminent  geographical  authorities  have 
withdrawn  their  charges.  Moreover,  is  it  really  the  case  that  SokolofFs  and 
Von  Baer's  later  writings  made  it  impossible  to  revive  the  old  charge?  He  who 
can  assert  this  must  be  but  slightly  acquainted  with  the  history  of  geography, 
and  with  that  of  Siberian  geography  above  all."  In  a  note  Nordenskjold 
adds :  "  Previous  to  the  departure  of  the  Vega  from  Sweden,  I  received  a  letter 
from  an  unknown  well-wisher  to  our  voyage,  cautioning  me  not  to  put  too 
much  faith  In  the  Chelyuskin  exploration  story,  as  the  writer  of  the  letter 


CHAPTEE  XIII. 

THE    DISCOVERT   OF    THE    KURILE    ISLANDS  AND  JAPAN 
FROM   THE   NORTH. 


men  that  took  part  in  these  early  Kussian 
-*-  explorations  have  not  yet  received  their  just  dues. 
Not  one  of  them,  however,  needs  rehabilitation  so  much 
as  Spangberg.  He  is  entitled  to  an  independent  place 
in  geographical  history,  but  has  been  completely  barred 
out.  0.  Peschel  and  Prof.  Euge  know  him  as  Bering's 
principal  officer,  but  not  as  the  discoverer  of  the  Kurile 
Islands  and  Japan  from  the  north.  And  yet,  just  this 
was  his  task.  He  was  to  sail  from  Kamchatka  to  Nipon, 
chart  the  Kurile  Islands,  link  the  Russian  explorations 
to  the  West  European  cartography  of  northern  Japan, 
and  investigate  the  geography  of  the  intervening  region,  — 
especially  the  cartographical  monsters  which  in  the 
course  of  a  century  of  contortion  had  developed  from 
De  Vries's  intelligent  map  of  East  Yezo,  Iturup  (Staaten 
Eiland)  and  TJrup  (Kompagniland).  We  have  already 

considered  it  fictitious."  To  the  Baron's  criticism  I  shall  simply  remark:  I 
have  shown  in  the  text  that  when  he  wrote  the  "  Voyage  of  the  Vega  "  he 
was  not  familiar  with  the  latest  works  on  this  question.  Hence  he  has  been 
entirely  unable  to  decide  whether  the  old  doubts  concerning  Chelyuskin's 
results  could  be  revived  or  not.  I  appeal  to  all  students  of  these  finer  points 
in  the  history  of  geography,  who  will  certainly  agree  with  my  statement  that 
the  Baron  in  this  question  has  absolutely  no  other  support  than  that  of  an 
anonymous  letter  !  —  Author's  Note  to  American  Edition. 

117 


118  VITUS  BERING. 

spoken  of  these  geographical  deformities,  which  assumed 
the  most  grotesque  forms,  and  were  at  that  time  accepted 
by  the  scientific  world.  The  version  of  the  brothers 
De  1'Isle,  which  perhaps  was  the  most  sober,  may  be 
seen  from  Map  II.  in  the  appendix. 

By  Strahlenberg  (1730)  and  by  Bellin  and  Charlevoix 
(1735),  highly  respected  names  among  scholars  of  that 
day,  Kamchatka  and  Yezo  were  represented  as  forming  a 
great  continent  separated  by  narrow  sounds  from  Japan, 
which  was  continued  on  the  meridian  of  Kamchatka 
and  Yezo,  and  from  an  eastern  chain  of  islands  —  Staaten 
Eiland  and  Kompagniland  —  that  seemed  to  project  into 
the  Pacific  in  the  form  of  a  continent. 

Kiriloff,  who  was  familiar  with  Bering's  map  of  east- 
ern Asia,  and  made  use  of  it,  and  who  knew  of  the 
most  northerly  Kuriles,  made  the  necessary  corrections 
in  his  general  map  of  Russia  (1734),  but  retained,  in 
regard  to  Yezo  and  Japan,  a  strangely  unfortunate  com- 
position of  Dutch  and  Strahlenberg  accounts,  and  put 
Nipon  (Hondo)  much  too  far  to  the  east.  In  these 
cartographical  aids  Spangberg  found  only  errors  and 
confusion,  and  he  got  about  the  same  kind  of  assist- 
ance from  his  real  predecessors  in  practical  exploration. 
Peschel  tells  that  Ivan  Kosyrefski,  in  the  years  1712-13, 
thoroughly  investigated  the  Kurile  chain  ;  there  is,  how- 
ever, but  little  truth  in  this.  Peschel  gives  G.  F. 
Muller  as  his  authority  and  refers  to  his  book,  but  the 
latter  says  explicitly  on  this  point:  "All  of  Kosyrefski's 
voyages  were  confined  to  the  first  two  or  three  Kuriles ; 
farther  than  this  he  did  not  go,  and  whatever  he  tells 
of  beyond  them  was  obtained  from  the  accounts  of 


THE   VARIOUS   EXPEDITIONS.  119 

others. "  It  is  possible  that  Miiller's  judgment  is  a  trifle 
one-sided,  but  it  is  nevertheless  certain  that  Kosyrefski's 
description  of  the  Kuriles  is  based  on  his  own  explora- 
tions only  in  a  very  slight  degree,  and  that  he  by  no 
means  deserves  the  place  that  Peschel  and  Euge  have 
accorded  him.  Nor  did  Lushin's  and  Yevrinoff's  expe- 
dition in  the  summer  of  1721  get  very  far — scarcely 
beyond  the  fifth  or  sixth  island — and  with  them,  until 
Spangberg  appeared  on  the  scene,  Eussian  explorations 
in  this  quarter  were  at  a  standstill. 

The  expedition  to  Japan  (1738)  was  undertaken  with 
three  ships.  Spangberg  and  Petroff  sailed  the  one- 
masted  brig,  the  Archangel  Michael,  Lieutenant  Walton 
and  first  mate  Kassimiroff  the  three-masted  double  sloop 
Hope,  and  Second-Lieutenant  Schelting  had  Bering's 
old  vessel,  the  Gabriel.  The  Michael  had  a  crew  of 
sixty-three,  among  them  a  monk,  a  physician,  and  an 
assayer,  and  each  of  the  other  two  ships  had  a  crew  of 
forty -four.  The  flotilla  left  Okhotsk  on  the  18th  of  June, 
1738,  but  was  detained  in  the  Sea  of  Okhotsk  by  ice, 
and  did  not  reach  Bolsheretsk  until  the  early  part  of 
July.  From  here,  on  the  15th  of  July,  Spangberg 
departed  for  the  Kuriles  to  begin  charting. 

The  Kurile  chain,  the  thousand  islands  or  Chi-Shima, 
as  the  Japanese  call  them,  is  650  kilometers  long.  These 
islands  are  simply  a  multitude  of  crater  crests  which 
shoot  up  out  of  the  sea,  and  on  that  account  make  navi- 
gation very  difficult.  The  heavy  fog,  which  almost  con- 
tinually prevails  here,  conceals  all  landmarks.  In  the 
great  depths,  sounding  afforded  little  assistance,  and, 
furthermore,  around  these  islands  and  through  the 


120  VITUS   BERING. 

narrow  channels  there  are    heavy  breakers    and    swift 
currents. 

For  nearly  a  century  after  Spangberg,  these  obstacles 
defied  some  of  the  world's  bravest  seamen.  Captain 
Gore,  who  was  last  in  command  of  Cook's  ships,  was 
obliged  to  give  up  the  task  of  charting  this  region ;  La 
Perouse  succeeded  in  exploring  only  the  Boussale  chan- 
nel ;  the  fogs  forced  Admiral  Sarycheff  (1792)  to  give 
up  his  investigations  here ;  Captain  Broughton  (1796) 
was  able  to  circumnavigate  only  the  most  southerly 
islands,  without,  however,  succeeding  in  giving  a  cor- 
rect representation  of  them ;  and  not  until  the  early 
part  of  this  century  did  Golovnin  succeed  in  charting 
the  group  more  accurately  than  Spangberg.  All  of 
these  difficulties  were  experienced  in  full  measure 
by  Spangberg's  expedition.  In  constant  combat  with 
fogs,  swift  currents,  and  heavy  seas  along  steep  and 
rocky  coasts,  he  had,  by  the  3d  of  August,  1738,  cir- 
cumnavigated thirty-one  islands  (our  maps  have  not 
nearly  so  large  a  number),  and  at  a  latitude  of  45°  30' 
he  reached  the  large  island  Nadeshda,  (the  Kompagni- 
land  of  the  Dutch,  TJrup),  but,  as  he  could  nowhere 
find  a  place  to  anchor,  and  as  the  nights  were  growing 
dark  and  long,  the  ship's  bread  running  short,  and  the 
crew  for  a  long  time  having  been  on  half  rations,  he 
turned  back,  and  reached  Bolsheretsk  on  the  17th  of 
August.  Lieutenant  Walton,  who  had  parted  company 
with  his  chief  and  had  sailed  as  far  down  as  43°  30' 
north  latitude,  thus  reaching  the  parallel  of  Yezo, 
arrived  a  few  days  later.  As  well  as  the  other  chiefs  of 
these  expeditions,  Spangberg  had  authority,  without  a 


THE   VARIOUS    EXPEDITIONS.  121 

renewed  commission,  to  repeat  the  expedition  the  follow- 
ing summer  ;  hence  the  winter  was  spent  in  preparations 
for  it.  So  far  as  it  was  possible  to  do  so,  he  sought  to 
provision  himself  in  Kamchatka,  and,  especially  for 
reconnoitering  the  coast,  he  built  of  birchwood  an  eight- 
een-oared  boat  called  the  Bolsheretsk. 

On  the  21st  of  May,  1739,  he  again  stood  out  to  sea 
with  all  four  ships,  and  on  the  25th  of  the  same  month 
he  reached  Kurile  Strait,  and  from  here  sailed  south 
southeast  into  the  Pacific  to  search  for  Gamaland  and  all 
the  legendary  group  of  islands  which  appeared  on  De 
T  Isle's  map.  This  southerly  course,  about  on  the  meri- 
dian of  Kamchatka,  he  kept  until  the  8th  of  June,  reach- 
ing a  latitude  of  42°.  As  he  saw  nothing  but  sea  and 
sky,  he  veered  to  the  west  south-west  for  the  purpose  of 
"doing  the  lands"  near  the  coast  of  Japan.  Walton, 
who,  in  spite  of  Spangberg's  strictest  orders,  was  con- 
stantly seeking  to  go  off  on  his  own  tack,  finally,  on  the 
14th  of  June,  found  an  opportunity  to  steal  away  and 
sail  in  a  south-westerly  direction.  In  different  latitudes, 
but  on  the  same  day,  the  16th  of  June,  both  discovered 
land.  Walton  followed  the  coast  of  Nipon  down  to  lati- 
tude 33°,  but  Spangberg  confined  his  explorations  to  the 
region  between  39°  and  37°  30'  N.  The  country  was  very 
rich.  A  luxuriant  vegetation — grape  vines,  orange  trees 
and  palms — decked  its  shores.  Rich  fields  of  rice,  numer- 
ous villages,  and  populous  cities  were  observed  from  the 
vessel.  The  sea  teemed  with  fish  of  enormous  size  and 
peculiar  form,  and  the  currents  brought  them  strange 
and  unknown  plants.  The  arrival  of  the  ships  caused 
great  excitement  among  the  natives,  beacons  burned 


122  VITUS   BERING. 

along  the  coast  all  night,  and  cruisers  swarmed  about 
them  at  a  respectful  distance.  On  the  22d,  Spangberg 
cast  anchor  one  verst  from  shore,  and  sought  to  commu- 
nicate with  them.  The  Japanese  brought  rice,  tobacco, 
various  kinds  of  fruits  and  cloths,  which,  on  very  reason- 
able terms,  they  exchanged  for  Russian  wares.  They 
were  very  polite,  and  Spangberg  succeeded  in  obtaining 
some  gold  coins,  which,  however,  he  found  were  described 
by  Kasmpfer.  Several  persons  of  high  rank  visited  him 
in  his  cabin  and  attempted  to  explain  to  him,  by  the  aid 
of  his  map  and  globe,  the  geography  of  Japan  and  Yezo. 
As  his  instructions  enjoined  upon  him  the  most  extreme 
cautiousness,  and  as  on  the  following  day  he  found  him- 
self surrounded  by  eighty  large  boats,  each  with  ten  or 
twelve  men,  he  weighed  anchor  and  stood  out  to  sea  in  a 
northeasterly  direction. 

It  was  Spangberg's  purpose  to  chart  the  southern  part 
of  the  Kurile  Islands,  and,  as  will  be  seen  from  his  chart,* 
he  sought  to  accomplish  his  task,  and  thus  complete  his 
work  of  1738.  The  casual  observer  will,  however,  find 
this  map  unsatisfactory  and  inaccurate,  and  will  not 
only  be  quite  confused  in  viewing  these  islands  so  pro- 
miscuously scattered  about,  and  which  seemingly  do 
not  correspond  with  the  actual  geography  of  this  region 
as  known  to  us,  but  he  will  even  be  inclined  to  suspect 
Spangberg  of  gross  fraud.  This  is  certainly  very  unjust, 
however,  and  after  a  careful  study  of  a  modern  map,  I 
venture  the  following  opinion  on  this  subject:  In  order 
to  be  able  to  understand  his  chart  and  course,  the  most 
essential  thing  necessary  is  simply  to  determine  his  first 

*See  Appendix. 


THE  VAEIOtTS  EXPEDITIONS.  123 

place  of  landing  in  the  Kuriles,  the  island  Figurnyi,  and 
to  identify  it  with  its  present  name.  He  discovered  this 
island  on  the  3d  of  July.  Miiller  says  that,  according  to 
the  ship's  journal,  it  is  in  latitude  43°  50'  IN".,  and  in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  Spangberg's  determinations  in  longitude, 
based  on  the  ship's  calculations,  were  as  a  rule  somewhat 
inaccurate,  which  in  a  measure  is  shown  by  Nipon's  being 
located  so  far  west,  he  is  nevertheless  in  this  case  right. 
Figurnyi  is  the  island  Sikotan  and  has  the  astronomical 
position  of  this  island  on  the  chart  (according  to  Golovnin 
43°  53'  N.  and  146°  43'  30"  E.).  This  opinion  is  corrobo- 
rated by  a  map  of  the  Eussian  discoveries  published  at 
St.  Petersburg  in  1787,  and  by  Captain  Broughton,  who 
described  the  island  in  the  fall  of  1796,  and  gave  it  the 
name  of  Spangberg's  Island,  in  honor  of  its  first  dis- 
coverer. With  this  point  fixed,  it  is  not  difficult  to 
understand  and  follow  Spangberg. 

Spangberg  labored  under  very  unfavorable  circum- 
stances. It  rained  constantly,  the  coast  was  enveloped  in 
heavy  fogs,  and  at  times  it  was  impossible  to  see  land  at 
a  distance  of  eight  yards.  From  Figurnyi  he  sailed 
southwest,  but  under  these  difficult  circumstances  he 
took  the  little  islands  of  Taroko  and  the  northern  point 
of  Yezo  to  be  one  continuous  coast  (Seljonyi,  the  green 
island),  and  anchored  at  the  head  of  Walvisch  bay,  his 
Bay  of  Patience.  From  here  he  saw  the  western  shore  of 
the  bay,  reached  its  farthest  point,  Cape  Notske,  and 
discovered  the  peninsula  of  Sirokot  and  parts  of  the 
island  Kumashiri,  which  he  called  Konosir  and  Tsyn- 
trounoi  respectively;  but,  as  he  turned  from  Cape  Notske 
and  sailed  east  into  the  Pacific,  between  Sikotan  and  the 


124  VITUS   BERING. 

Taroko  Islands,  he  did  not  reach  the  Kurile  Islands  them- 
selves, and  only  the  most  northerly  island  In  the  group 
of  the  "  Three  Sisters "  may  possibly  be  the  southern 
point  of  Iturup.  He  then  proceeded  along  the  eastern 
coast  of  Yezo,  took  the  deep  bay  of  Akischis  as  a  strait 
separating  Seljonyi  and  Konosir,  then  crossed  in  a  south- 
erly direction  the  large  bay  on  the  central  coast  of  Yezo, 
without  seeing  land  at  its  head,  to  Cape  Jerimo  (his 
Matmai),  and  had  thus  navigated  the  whole  east  coast  of 
Yezo;  but  on  account  of  the  heavy  fog,  which  prevented 
him  from  seeing  the  exact  outline  of  the  coast,  he  made 
three  islands  of  Yezo:  Matmai,  Seljonyi  and  Konosir.  In 
1643,  De  Vries  had  in  his  map  linked  a  number  of  islands 
together,  making  one  stretch  of  country  called  Je90,  and 
now  Spangberg  had  gone  to  the  opposite  extreme. 

These  explorations  engaged  Spangberg  from  the  3d  to 
the  25th  of  July.  He  several  times  met  inhabitants  of 
North  Yezo,  the  Ai'no  people,  whose  principal  character- 
istics he  has  fully  described,  but  as  his  men  were  suffer- 
ing from  scurvy,  causing  frequent  deaths  among  them 
(by  August  29,  when  he  arrived  at  Okhotsk,  he  had 
lost  thirteen,  among  them  the  physician),  he  resolved  to 
turn  at  Cape  Jerimo,  and  on  his  return  trip  keep  his 
course  so  close  to  the  Kuriles  that  he  might  strike  the 
extreme  points  of  De  FIsle's  Jeqo,  all  of  Kompagniland, 
and  the  most  westerly  parts  of  Gamaland. 

Spangberg's  explorations  were  far  from  exhaustive. 
He  but  partly  succeeded  in  lifting  the  veil  that  so 
persistently  concealed  the  true  outline  of  this  irregularly 
formed  part  of  the  globe.  His  reconnoissance  was  to 
ascertain  the  general  oceanic  outline  of  these  coasts. 


THE  VARIOUS  EXPEDITIONS.  125 

His  charting  of  Yezo  and  Saghalin  was  left  to  a  much 
later  day, — to  La  Perouse,  to  Krusenstern,  Golovnin,  and 
others.  But  Spangberg's  expedition  nevertheless  marks 
great  progress  in  our  geographical  knowledge,  for  not 
only  did  he  irrevocably  banish  the  cartographical  myths 
of  that  region,  and,  on  the  whole,  give  a  correct  repre- 
sentation of  the  Kurile  islands  clear  to  Iturup,  the  next 
to  the  last  of  them,  but  he  also  determined  the  position 
of  North  Japan,  and  fully  accomplished  his  original 
task,  namely,  to  show  the  Kussians  the  way  to  Japan, 
and  thus  add  this  long  disputed  part  of  the  Northeast 
passage  to  the  other  explorations  for  the  same  purpose. 

As  was  the  case  with  that  of  all  of  his  colleagues, 
so  Spangberg's  reputation  suffered  under  the  violent 
administrative  changes  and  that  system  of  suppression 
which  later  prevailed  in  Russia.  His  reports  were  never 
made  public.  The  Russian  cartographers  made  use  of 
his  chart,  but  they  did  not  understand  how  to  fit 
judiciously  his  incomplete  coast-lines  to  those  already 
known,  or  to  distinguish  right  from  wrong.  They  even 
omitted  the  course  of  his  vessel,  thus  excluding  all 
possibility  of  understanding  his  work.-  Hence  Spang- 
berg's  chart  never  reached  West  Europe,  and  Cook  found 
it  necessary  to  reinstate  him  as  well  as  Bering.  *  After 
that  the  feeling  was  more  favorable,  and  Coxe,f  for 
instance,  used  Viis  representation  of  the  Kuriles;  but  new 
and  better  outlines  of  this  region  appeared  about  this 
time,  and  Spangberg  again  sank  into  complete  oblivion. 

Spangberg's  safe  return  was  a  bright  spot  in  the 
history  of  the  Great  Northern  Expedition,  and  Bering 

*  Note  53.         t  Note  54. 


126  VITUS  BERING. 

was  very  well  satisfied  with  the  results.  He  permitted 
him  and  his  crew  to  go  to  Yakutsk  to  obtain  rest,  and 
ordered  him  to  return  to  St.  Petersburg  the  next  spring 
to  render  in  person  an  account  of  the  results  of  the 
expedition.  His  preliminary  report,  sent  in  advance, 
received  considerable  attention  in  the  cabinet  of  the 
Empress,  and  caused  much  talk  in  the  leading  circles  of 
the  capital.  While  in  Yakutsk,  he  received  orders  to 
travel  day  and  night  to  reach  St.  ^Petersburg.  Mean- 
while, however,  his  old  enemy  Pissarjeff  had  also  been 
active.  Surreptitiously,  especially  from  Walton,  wbo 
was  constantly  at  enmity  with  his  chief,  he  had  obtained 
some  information  concerning  the  expedition  and  had 
reported  to  the  Senate  that  Spangberg  had  not  been  in 
Japan  at  all,  but  off  the  coast  of  Corea.  This  assertion 
he  sought  to  prove  by  referring  to  pre-Spangberg  maps, 
which,  as  we  have  noted,  placed  Japan  eleven  or  twelve 
degrees  too  far  east,  directly  south  of  Kamchatka.  This 
gossip  was  credited  in  the  Senate,  and  a  courier  was 
dispatched  to  stop  Spangberg.  At  Fort  Kirinsk,  on  the 
Lena,  in  the  summer  of  1740,  he  received  orders  to 
return  to  Okhotsk  and  repeat  his  voyage  to  Japan,  while 
a  commission  of  naval  officers  and  scholars  betook  them- 
selves to  investigate  the  matter.  These  wise  men,  after 
several  years  of  deliberation,  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
Walton  had  been  in  Japan,  and  that  Spangberg  most 
probably  had  been  off  the  coast  of  Corea.  In  the 
summer  of  1742,  he  started  out  on  his  third  expedition  to 
Japan,  but  as  this  was  a  complete  failure,  undoubtedly 
due  to  Spangberg's  anger  on  account  of  the  government's 
unjust  and  insane  action,  and  as  it  has  no  geographical 
significance,  we  shall  give  it  no  further  consideration. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

/ 

PREPARATIONS  FOR  BERING'S  VOYAGE  OF  DISCOVERT 
TO  AMERICA.  —  FOUNDING  OF  PETROPAVLOVSK. — 
THE  BROTHERS  DE  L'lSLE. 

WE  left  Bering  when,  in  1740,  he  was  about  to 
depart  from  the  harbor  of  Okhotsk  with  the  St. 
Peter  and  the  St.  Paul,  two  smaller  transports,  and  a 
vessel  to  convey  the  scientists,  Steller  and  La  Croyere,  to 
Bolsheretsk.  The  objective  point  of  the  main  expedi- 
tion was  Avacha  Bay,  on  the  eastern  coast  of  Kamchatka. 
The  excellent  harbors  here  had  been  discovered  by 
Bering's  crew  a  couple  of  years  previous.  He  had  now 
sent  his  mate,  Yelagin,  to  chart  the  bay,  find  a  sheltered 
harbor  there,  and  establish  a  fortified  place  of  abode  on 
this  coast.  This  work  Yelagin  completed  in  the  summer 
of  1740,  and  when  in  the  latter  part  of  September  the 
packet  boats  entered  Avacha  Bay,  they  found,  in  a 
smaller  bay  on  the  north  side,  Niakina  Cove,  some  bar- 
racks and  huts.  A  fort  was  built  in  the  course  of 
the  winter  and  the  pious^  Bering  had  a  church  built 
and  consecrated  to  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  thus  founding 
the  present  town  of  Petropavlovsk.  The  place  rapidly 
became  the  most  important  and  pleasant  town  of  the 
peninsula,  although  that  is  not  saying  much.  In  1779, 
the  place  was  still  so  insignificant  that  Cook's  officers 

187 


128  VITUS  BERING. 

searched  long  in  vain  for  it  with  their  field-glasses, 
but  finally  discovered  about  thirty  huts  on  that  point 
which  shelters  the  harbor.  In  the  middle  of  this  cen- 
tury it  had  about  a  thousand  inhabitants,  but  since  the 
sale  of  Russian  America,  Bering's  town  has  been  hope- 
lessly on  the  decline.  At  present  it  has  scarcely  600 
inhabitants  and  is  of  importance  only  to  the  fur  trade. 

Its  first  permanent  inhabitants  were  brought  from 
the  forts  on  the  Kamchatka,  and  in  the  course  of  the 
autumn  there  arrived  from  Anadyrskoi  Ostrog  a  herd 
of  reindeer  to  supply  the  command  of  over  two  hundred 
men  with  food,  and  thus  spare  other  stores.  This  was 
very  necessary,  for  although  Bering  had  left  Okhotsk 
with  nearly  two  years'  provisions,  one  of  the  ships, 
through  the  carelessness  of  an  officer,  stranded  in  cross- 
ing the  Okhotsk  bar,  and  the  cargo,  consisting  of  the 
ship's  bread  for  the  voyage  to  America,  was  destroyed 
and  could  not  immediately  be  replaced.  Some  lesser 
misfortunes  in  Avacha  Bay  further  diminished  the  stores, 
and  hence,  in  the  course  of  the  winter,  Bering  found  it 
necessary  to  have  large  supplies  brought  across  the 
country  from  Bolsheretsk.  The  distance  is  about  one 
hundred  and  forty  miles,  and  as  nothing  but  dogs  could 
be  procured,  the  natives  were  gathered  from  the  remotest 
quarters  of  the  peninsula  to  accomplish  this  work  of 
transportation.  The  Kamshadales  disliked  journeys  very 
much.  They  had  already  suffered  terribly  under  the 
misrule  of  the  Cossacks.  They  were  treated  cruelly, 
and  many  died  of  overwork  and  want,  and  the  rest  lost 
patience.  The  tribes  in  the  vicinity  of  Tigil  revolted. 
The  Cossack  chief  Kolessoff,  who  was  constantly  drunk, 


THE   VARIOUS   EXPEDITIONS.  129 

neglected  to  superintend  the  transportation,  and  as  a 
result,  much  was  injured  or  ruined.  Some  of  these  sup- 
plies arrived  too  late  to  be  used  for  the  expedition. 
Bering's  original  plan  was  to  spend  two  years  on  this 
expedition.  He  was  to  winter  on  the  American  coast, 
navigate  it  from  60°  N.  latitude  to  Bering  Strait,  and 
then  return  along  the  coast  of  Asia.  But  this  had  to  be 
abandoned. 

In  May,  1741,  when  the  ice  broke  up,  he  could 
supply  his  ships  with  frugal,  not  to  say  very  poor,  pro- 
visions, for  only  five  and  a  half  months.  Moreover, 
his  ship's  stores  and  reserve  rigging  were  both  incom- 
plete and  inadequate.  Bering's  powers  of  resistance 
now  began  to  wane.  After  eight  years  of  incessant 
trouble  and  toil,  after  all  the  accusations  and  suspicions 
he  had  undergone,  he  was  now  forced  to  face  the-tTiought 
of  an  unsatisfactory  conclusion  of  his  first  voyage,  at 
least.  Besides,  Spangberg's  fate  could  not  but  have  a 
very  depressing  influence,  for  it  told  Bering  and  his 
associates  that  even  with  the  best  of  results  it  would  ' 
hardly  be  possible  to  overcome  the  prejudices  of  the 
government  authorities  or  their  lack  of  confidence  in 
the  efforts  of  the  new  marine  service.  Undoubtedly  it 
was  such  thoughts  as  these  that  swayed  Bering  and";. 
Chirikoff,  when,  on  the  4th  of  May,  they  called  the 
ship's  council  to  consider  the  prospective  voyage  (the 
proceedings  are  not  known).  Although  both,  as  well 
as  the  best  of  their  officers,  were  of  the  opinion  that 
America*  was  to  be  sought  in  a  direction  east  by 
north  from  Avacha,  and  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  they 

*  Note  55. 


130  VITUS   BEKING. 

were  both  familiar  with  Gvosd  Jeff's  discovery  of  the  Amer- 
ican coast  of  Bering  Strait  (1732),  and  that  their  obser- 
vations during  the  course  of  the  winter  had  amply  cor- 
roborated Bering's  earlier  opinion,  they  nevertheless 
allowed  themselves  to  be  prevailed  upon  to  search  first 
in  a  southeasterly  direction  for  the  legendary  Gamaland. 
And  thus  the  lid  of  Pandora's  box  was  lifted^ 

This  fatal  resolution  was  due  principally  to  the 
brothers  De  1'Isle,  and,  as  this  name  is  most  decisively 
connected  with  Bering's  life  and  renown,  we  must  say 
a  few  words  about  these  brothers.  The  elder  and  more 
talented,  Guillaume  De  1'Isle,  undoubtedly  represented 
the  geographical  knowledge  of  his  day,  but  he  died  as 
early  as  1726.  He  came  in  personal  contact  with  the  Czar 
during  the  latter^  visit  in  Paris,  and  corresponded  with 
him  afterwards.  His  maps  were  the  worst  stumbling 
blocks  to  Bering's  first  voyage.  The  younger  brother, 
Joseph  Nicolas,  on  the  other  hand,  was  called  to  Russia 
in  1726,  on  his  brother's  recommendation,  and  was 
appointed  chief  astronomer  of  the  newly  founded 
Academy.  In  this  position  he  was  for  twenty-one  years 
engaged  upon  the  cartography  of  the  great  Russian 
empire.  Under  his  supervision  the  atlas  of  the  Academy 
appeared  in  1745,  and  it  was  supposed  that  he  carried 
very  valuable  geographical  collections  with  him  to  Paris 
in  1747.  But  if  this  was  the  case,  he  did  not  understand 
how  to  make  proper  use  of  them,  and,  as  it  is,  he  is  of 
no  geographical  importance.  When  he  went  to  Russia, 
he  took  with  him,  without  special  invitation,  his  elder 
brother,  Louis,  and  did  everything  to  secure  him  a  scien- 
tific position  in  the  country.  Louis  seems  to  have  been 


THE   VARIOUS  EXPEDITIONS.  131 

an  amiable  good-for-nothing,  who  highly  prized  a  good 
table  and  a  social  glass,  but  cared  as,  little  as  possible 
for  scientific  pursuits.  When,  as  a  young  man,  he 
studied  theology  in  Paris,  his  father  found  it  necessary 
to  send  him  to  Canada,  where  he  assumed  his  mother's 
name,  La  Croyere,  and  for  seventeen  years  lived  a  sol- 
dier's wild  life,  until  his  brothers,  on  the  death  of  the 
father,  recalled  him  from  his  exile.  In  St.  Petersburg 
his  brother  instructed  him  in  the  elements  of  astronomy, 
sent  him  upon  a  surveying  expedition  to  Lapland,  and 
finally  secured  him  a  position  as  chief  astronomer  of 
Bering's  second  expedition.  This  was  a  great  mistake. 
Louis  de  1'Isle  de  la  Croyere  very  unsatisfactorily  filled 
his  position.  His  Academic  associates  Miiller  and  Gmelin 
had  no  regard  for  him  whatever,  and  hence  under  the 
pressure  of  this  contempt,  and  as  a  result  of  this  irregular 
and  protracted  life  in  a  barbaric  country,  La  Croyere, 
having  no  native  power  of  resistance,  sank  deeper  and 
deeper  into  hopeless  sluggishness.  His  astronomical 
determinations  in  Kamchatka  are  worthless.  His  Rus- 
sian assistants,  especially  Krassilnikoff,  did  this  part  of 
the  work  of  the  expedition. 

As  early  as  1730,  Bering,  as  we  have  seen,  came  into 
unfortunate  relations  with  Joseph  De  1'Isle,  and  this  state 
of  affairs  afterwards  grew  gradually  worse.  In  1731,  the 
Senate  requested  the  latter  to  construct  a  map  of  the 
northern  part  of  the  Pacific  in  order  to  present 
graphically  the  still  unsolved  problems  for  geographical 
research.  He  submitted  this  map  to  the  Senate  on  the 
6th  of  October,  1732,  that  is,  two  years  and  a  half  after 
Bering's  proposition  to  undertake  the  Great  Northern 


132  VITUS   BERING. 

Expedition,  but  this  did  not  deter  him,  in  1750,  from 
ascribing  to  himself,  on  the  basis  of  this  same  map  and 
an  accompanying  memoir,  Bering's  proposition,  nor  from 
publishing  an  entirely  perverted  account  of  Bering's 
second  expedition.  He  clung  to  all  of  his  brother's  con- 
jectures about  Gamaland,  Kompagniland,  and  Staatenland 
as  well  as  Je90,  although  they  were  based  on  very  unreli- 
able accounts  and  the  cartographical  distortions  of  several 
generations.  On  the  other  hand,  he  most  arbitrarily 
rejected  all  Eussian  accounts  of  far  more  recent  and  reli- 
able origin,  so  that  only  Bering's  and  part  of  Yevrinoff's 
and  Lushin's  outlines  of  the  first  Kuriles  were  allowed  to 
appear  on  the  official  map.  He  would  rather  reject  all 
Eussian  works  that  could  be  made  doubtful,  than  his 
brother's  authority,  and  even  in  1753,  over  twenty  years 
after  Spangberg's  and  Bering's  voyages,  he  persistently 
sought  to  maintain  his  brother  Guillaume's  and  his  own 
unreasonable  ideas  concerning  the  cartography  of  this 
region.  It  was  in  part  this  dogged  persistence  in  cling- 
ing to  family  prejudices  that  robbed  Spangberg  of  his 
well-earned  reward  and  brought  Bering's  last  expedition 
to  a  sad  end. 

When  the  second  Kamchatkan  expedition  left  St.  Pet- 
ersburg, a  copy  of  De  FIsle's  map  was  given  to  Bering  as 
well  as  to  La  Croyere.  De  1'Isle  wrote  the  latter's 
instructions — ably  written,  by  the  way — and  it  was  a 
result  of  his  efforts  that  the  Senate  ordered  Bering  and 
Chirikoff  to  consult  with  La  Croyere  concerning  the 
route  to  America, — a  very  reasonable  decree  in  case  he 
had  been  a  good  geographer.  As  it  was,  the  order  simply 
meant  that  they  were  to  go  according  to  the  regulations 


THE  VARIOUS   EXPEDITIONS.  133 

of  De  1'Isle  in  St.  Petersburg.  In  the  ship's  council  on 
the  4th  of  May,  1741,  La  Croyere  immediately  produced 
the  above-mentioned  map,  and  directed  the  expedition  first 
to  find  Gamaland,  which,  it  was  claimed,  could  lie  but  a 
few  days'  sailing  toward  the  southeast,  and  would  fur- 
nish good  assistance  in  finding  America.  But  La  Croyere 
was  only  a  spokesman  for  his  brother,  who  in  his  memoir 
had  constructed  his  principal  reasoning  on  this  basis.  He 
says  here  that  America  can  be  reached  from  the  Chuk- 
chee  peninsula  as  well  as  from  the  mouth  of  the  Kam- 
chatka Eiver,  but  with  greatest  ease  and  certainty  from 
Avacha  Bay  in  a  southeasterly  direction  to  the  northern 
coast  of  Gamaland.  In  order  to  support  this  supposition 
he  adds:  "It  grieves  me  not  to  have  found  other  informa- 
tion about  this  land  seen  by  Don  Juan  de  Gama  than 
what  is  given  on  the  map  of  my  late  brother,  his  most 
Christian  Majesty's  first  geographer.  But  as  he  indicated 
the  position  of  this  country  with  reference  to  Kompagni- 
land  and  Jego,  and  as  I  am  certain,  from  other  sources, 
of  the  position  of  these  two  countries,  I  am  consequently 
convinced  of  their  correct  situation  and  distance  from 
Kamchatka." 

That  these  miserable  arguments  exercised  any  influ- 
ence upon  the  ship's  council  on  the  4th  of  May,  would 
seem  impossible,  if  we  did  not  bear  in  mind  the  conduct 
of  the  authorities  in  St.  Petersburg.  Two  years  previous 
Spangberg  had  sailed  right  across  Kompagniland,  Staat- 
enland  and  Jego,  and  thus  made  every  point  in  De  1'Isle's 
argument  untenable.  Bering  and  Chirikoff  were  familiar 
with  the  results  of  these  voyages,  and  shared  Spangberg's 
opinion.  For  this  reason  they  could  not  possibly  ascribe 


134  VITUS  BERING. 

any  great  importance  to  De  1'Isle's  directions  which  were 
based  on  antiquated  assumptions,  but  on  the  other  hand, 
they  had  neither  moral  nor  practical  independence  enough 
to  take  their  own  course.  The  government  laws,  and 
especially  the  Senate  decrees,  bound  their  hands.  They 
were  to  submit  all  important  measures  to  the  action  of 
a  commission,  and  were  far  from  being  sovereign  com- 
manders in  any  modern  sense.  Under  these  circum- 
stances they  found  it  advisable,  and  possibly  necessary,  to 
act  in  accordance  with  the  opinion  of  these  learned  schol- 
ars, so  as  to  be  able  later  to  defend  themselves  in  every 
particular  against  the  criticisms  of  the  Academy.  Hence 
the  commission  resolved  that  the  expedition  should  first 
find  the  northern  coast  of  Gamaland,  follow  this  coast  in 
an  easterly  direction  to  America,  and  turn  back  in  time  to 
be  at  home  in  Avacha  Bay  by  the  end  of  September.  In 
this  way  their  ships  were  carried  far  into  the  Pacific  and 
away  from  the  Aleutian  chain  of  islands,  which,  like  the 
thread  of  Ariadne,  would  speedily  have  led  them  to  the 
western  continent. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  DISCOVERY  OF  AMERICA  FROM  THE  EAST. — STELLER 
INDUCED  TO  JOIN  THE  EXPEDITION. — THE  SEPARATION 
OF  THE  ST.  PETER  AND  THE  ST.  PAUL. 

TN  the  course  of  the  month  of  May  the  vessels  were 
-*-  equipped  and  supplied  with  provisions  for  five  and 
a  half  months,  several  cords  of  wood,  100  casks  of  water, 
and  two  rowboats  each.  The  St.  Peter,  commanded  by 
Bering,  had  a  crew  of  77,  among  whom  were  Lieutenant 
Waxel,  shipmaster  Khitroff,  the  mates  Hesselberg  and 
Jushin,  the  surgeon  Betge,  the  conductor  Plenisner, 
Ofzyn  (whom  we  remember  as  the  officer  who  had  been 
reduced  in  rank),  and  Steller.  On  board  the  St.  Paul, 
commanded  by  Lieut.  Alexei  Chirikoff,  were  found  the 
marine  officers  Chegatchoff  and  Plautin,  La  Croyere,  and 
the  assistant  surgeon  Lau, — in  all  about  76  men.  Before 
his  departure,  Bering  had  a  very  difficult  matter  to 
arrange.  His  instructions  directed  him  to  take  with  him 
to  America  a  mineralogist ;  but  when  Spangberg  had 
started  out  on  his  unexpected  expedition  to  Japan,  Bering 
had  sent  with  him  the  mineralogist  Hartelpol,  and  now 
he  found  it  impossible  in  East  Siberia  to  get  a  man  to  fill 
his  place.  Hence,  as  early  as  February,  Bering  applied  to 
Steller  and  tried  to  induce  him  to  take  upon  himself  the 
duties  of  naturalist  and  mineralogist  on  this  expedition. 

135 


136  VITUS   BERING. 

Steller  was  born  at  Windsheim,  Germany,  in  1709.  He 
first  studied  theology  and  had  even  begun  to  preach,  when 
the  study  of  science  suddenly  drew  him  from  the  church. 
He  studied  medicine  and  botany,  passed  the  medical  ex- 
aminations in  Berlin,  and  lectured  on  medicine  in  Halle. 
Then,  partly  as  a  matter  of  necessity  and  partly  from  a 
desire  to  travel,  he  went  to  Danzig,  where  he  became  sur- 
geon on  a  Kussian  vessel,  and  finally,  after  a  series  of 
vicissitudes,  he  landed  in  St.  Petersburg  as  a  lecturer  in 
the  Academy  of  Science.  According  to  his  own  desire  he 
went  to  Siberia  as  Gmelin's  and  Miiller's  assistant,  and, 
as  these  gentlemen  found  it  altogether  too  uncomfortable 
to  travel  any  farther  east  than  Yakutsk,  he  took  upon 
himself  the  exploration  of  Kamchatka.  He  was  an 
enthusiast  in  science,  who  heeded  neither  obstacles  nor 
dangers,  a  keen  and  successful  observer,  who  has  enriched 
science  with  several  classical  chapters,  and  had  an  ardent 
and  passionate  nature  that  attacked  without  regard  to 
persons  every  form  of  injustice.  His  pen  could  be  shaped 
to  epigrammatic  sharpness,  and  his  tongue  spared  no  one. 
In  1741,  he  wished  to  extend  his  investigations  to  Japan, 
and  had,  when  Bering  sought  to  secure  his  services,  sent 
to  the  Academy  a  request  to  be  permitted  to  participate 
in  Spangberg's  third  expedition.  Steller  had,  however, 
great  hesitancy  about  leaving  his  special  field  of  investiga- 
tion without  orders  or  permission,  and  Bering  had  to 
assume  all  responsibility  to  the  Senate  and  Academy,  and 
also  secure  for  him  from  a  council  of  all  the  ship's  officers 
an  assurance  of  the  position  as  mineralogist  of  the  expe- 
dition, before  he  could  be  induced  to  accept.  Bering  is 
said  to  have  charged  him  verbally  to  make  observations 


THE   VAEIOUS   EXPEDITIONS.  137 

in  all  the  departments  of  natural  history,  and  promised 
him  all  necessary  assistance.  Steller  accuses  Bering  of 
not  having  kept  his  promises,  and,  although  he  preserved 
until  the  last  a  high  regard  for  Bering's  seamanship  and 
noble  character,  there  nevertheless  developed,  during  the 
expedition,  a  vehement  enmity  between  Steller  and  the 
naval  officers,  especially  Waxel  and  Khitroff,  and  this 
enmity  found  very  pregnant  expression  in  Steller's  diary,* 
which,  in  this  respect,  is  more  a  pamphlet  than  a  descrip- 
tion of  travel.  It  is  impossible,  however,  with  our  pres- 
ent resources,  to  ascertain  the  true  state  of  affairs.  Con- 
cerning Bering's  voyage  to  America,  we  have  only  the  St. 
Peter's  journals  kept  by  Waxel,  Jushin,  and  Khitroff,  and 
an  account  by  Waxel,  all  of  which  have  been  used  by 
Sokoloff  in  the  preparation  of  the  memoirs  of  the  hydro- 
graphic  department.  Steller's  diary,  which  goes  into  a 
detailed  account  of  things  in  quite  a  different  way  than 
the  official  reports,  was  also  used  by  Sokoloff,  but  as  the 
latter  had  but  little  literary  taste  and  still  less  sympathy 
for  the  contending  parties,  especially  for  Bering,  he  does 
not  attempt  to  dispense  justice  between  them.  Steller's 
criticism  must  be  looked  upon  as  an  eruption  of  that  ill- 
humor  which  so  often  and  so  easily  arises  in  the  relations 
between  the  chief  of  an  expedition  and  the  accompanying 
scientists,  between  men  with  divergent  interests  and  dif- 
ferent aims.  Bering  and  Steller,  Cook  and  his  natural- 
ists, Kotzebue  and  Chamisso,  are  prominent  examples  of 
this  disagreement.  It  is  well  known  that  Cook  called  the 
naturalists  "the  damned  disturbers  of  the  peace,"  and 
that  he  more  than  once  threatened  to  put  them  off  on 

*  Note  56. 


138  VITUS   BERING. 

some  island  or  other  in  the  ocean.  Steller  accuses  Bering 
of  having  too  much  regard  for  his  subordinate  officers, 
but  in  all  likelihood  these  had  made  the  countercharge 
that  he  gave  too  much  heed  to  the  scientists.  At  any 
rate,  Bering  has  often  been  blamed  for — in  accordance 
with  his  instructions — letting  La  Croyere  take  part  in  the 
councils  at  Avacha.  But  we  must  not  forget  that  Steller 
was  a  hot-headed  and  passionate  fellow  who  persistently 
maintained  his  own  opinions.  From  many  points  in  his 
accounts,  it  appears  that  during  this  whole  expedition  he 
was  in  a  state  of  geographical  confusion  ;  and  even  after 
his  return  he  seemed  to  imagine  that  the  two  continents 
were  separated  by  simply  a  narrow  channel.  He  was 
guided  by  observations  of  a  scientific  nature,  and,  as  the 
course  of  the  St.  Peter  was  no  farther  from  the  Aleutian 
Islands  than  the  appearance  of  seaweed,  seals,  and  birds 
indicated,  he  constantly  imagined  that  they  were  off  the 
coast  of  the  New  World.  The  naval  officers,  on  the  other 
hand,  sought  guidance  in  sounding ;  but  as  their  course 
carried  them  out  upon  the  great  depths  of  the  Pacific,  the 
northern  wall  of  which  very  precipitously  ascends  to  the 
Aleutian  Islands,  their  measurements  were  of  no  assist- 
ance, and  in  various  points  Steller  was  undoubtedly  cor- 
rect. The  principal  reason  for  Steller's  complaint  must 
be  sought  in  Bering's  illness,  and  it  is  easily  perceived 
that,  if  the  scurvy  had  not  at  a  very  early  stage  under- 
mined his  strength,  his  superior  seamanship  would  have 
secured  the  expedition  quite  different  results  than  those 
that  were  obtained. 

After  a  prayer  service,  the  ships  weighed  anchor  on  the 
4th  of  June,  1741.     Expectations  on  board  were  great, — 


THE  VABIOUS   EXPEDITIONS.  139 

the  New  World  was  to  open  up  before  them.  According 
to  the  plan  adopted,  a  southeasterly  course  was  taken, 
and  in  spite  of  some  unfortunate  friction,  Bering  gave 
Chirikoff  the  lead,  so  as  to  leave  him  no  cause  for  com- 
plaint. They  kept  their  course  until  the  afternoon  of 
June  12,  when  they  found  themselves,  after  having  sailed 
over  six  hundred  miles  in  a  Southeasterly  direction,  in 
latitude  46°  9'  N.  and  14°  30'  east  of  Avacha.  According 
to  De  risle's  map  they  should  long  before  have  come  to 
the  coasts  of  Gamaland,  but  as  they  only  saw  sea  and  sky, 
Bering  gave  the  command  to  turn  back.  With  variable 
and  unfavorable  winds,  they  worked  their  way,  during 
the  few  succeeding  days,  in  a  direction  of  N.  N.  E.  up  to 
latitude  49°  30',  where  Chirikoff,  on  the  20th  of  June,  in 
storm  and  fog,  left  Bering  and  sailed  E.  N.  E.  in  the 
direction  of  the  American  coast,  without  attempting  to 
keep  with  the  St.  Peter.  This  was  the  first  real  mis- 
fortune of  the  expedition.  For  forty-eight  hours  Ber- 
ing kept  close  to  the  place  of  separation,  in  hopes  of 
again  joining  the  St.  Paul,  and,  as  this  proved  fruitless, 
he  convened  a  ship's  council,  at  which  it  was  decided 
to  give  up  all  further  search  for  the  St.  Paul ;  it  was 
also  resolved  —  in  order  to  remove  every  doubt  —  to 
sail  again  to  the  46th  degree  to  find  Gamaland.  Hav- 
ing arrived  here,  some  birds  were  seen,  whereupon  they 
continued  their  course  to  45°  16'  N".  and  16°  23'  east  of 
Avacha,  but  of  course  without  any  results.  During  the 
four  succeeding  weeks,  the  ship's  course  was  between 
north  and  east,  toward  the  western  continent,  but  as  on 
their  southern  course  they  had  come  out  upon  the  depths 
of  Tuscarora,  which,  several  thousand  fathoms  deep,  run 


140  VITUS   BERING. 

right  up  to  the  Aleutian  reef,  their  soundings  gave  them 
no  clue  to  land,  although  they  were  sailing  almost  paral- 
lel with  this  chain  of  islands.  But  Bering  was  now  con- 
fined to  his  cabin.  The  troubles  he  had  passed  through, 
his  sixty  years  of  age,  and  the  incipient  stages  of  scurvy, 
had  crushed  his  powers  of  resistance,  while  his  officers, 
Waxel  and  Khitroff,  dismfesed  Steller's  observations  with 
scornful  sarcasm.  Not  until  the  12th  of  July  did  they 
take  any  precautions  against  a  sudden  landing.  They 
took  in  some  of  the  sails  during  the  night  and  hove  to. 
They  had  then  been  on  the  sea  about  six  weeks.  Their 
supply  of  water  was  about  half  gone,  and  according  to  the 
ship's  calculations,  which  show  an  error  of  8°,  they  had 
sailed  46^°  (i.  e.,  54|°)  from  the  meridian  of  Avacha. 
The  ship's  council  therefore  concluded,  on  the  13th  of 
July,  to  sail  due  north,  heading  N.  N.  E.,  and  at  noon 
on  the  16th  of  July,  in  a  latitude  by  observation  of 
58°  14'  and  a  longitude  of  49£°  east  of  Avacha,  they 
finally  saw  land  to  the  north.*  The  country  was  ele- 
vated, the  coast  was  jagged,  covered  with  snow,  inhospi- 
table, and  girt  with  islands,  behind  which  a  snow-capped 
mountain  peak  towered  so  high  into  the  clouds  that  it 
could  be  seen  at  a  distance  of  seventy  miles.  "I  do  not 
remember,"  says  Steller,  "  of  having  seen  a  higher  moun- 
tain in  all  Siberia  and  Kamchatka."  This  mountain 

*  II.  H.  Bancroft,  History  of  Alaska,  p.  79,  has  the  following  note:  "  The 
date  of  Bering's  discovery,  or  the  day  when  land  was  first  sighted  by  the 
lookout,  has  been  variously  stated.  Muller  makes  it  the  20th  of  July,  and 
Steller  the  18th;  the  16th  is  in  accordance,  with  Bering's  journal,  and  accord- 
ing to  Bering's  observation  the  latitude  was  58°  28'.  This  date  is  confirmed 
by  a  manuscript  chart  compiled  by  Petroff  and  Waxel,  with  the  help  of  the 
original  log-books  of  both  vessels.  The  claim  set  up  by  certain  Spanish 
writers  in  favor  of  Francisco  Gali  as  first  discoverer  of  this  region  is  based 
on  a  misprint  in  an  early  account  of  his  voyage.  For  particulars  see  Hist. 
Cal.,  I.,  this  series."— TK. 


THE   VARIOUS    EXPEDITIONS.  141 

was  the  volcano  St.  Elias,  which  is  about  18,000  feet 
high.  Bering  had  thus  succeeded  in  discovering  America 
from  the  east.  As  they  had  a  head  wind,  they  moved  very 
slowly  toward  the  north,  and  not  until  the  morning  of  the 
20th  did  they  cast  anchor  off  the  western  coast  of  an 
island  which  they  called  Set.  Ilii  (St.  Elias)  in  honor  of 
the  patron  saint  of  the  day.  On  the  same  day,  Khitroff 
with  fifteen  men  went,  in  the  ship's  boat,  to  search  for  a 
harbor  and  to  explore  the  island  and  its  nearest  surround- 
ings. Steller,  who  had  desired  to  accompany  him,  was 
put  ashore  with  the  crew  that  brought  fresh  water  from 
St.  Elias,  and  endeavored,  as  well  as  it  was  possible  in  a 
few  hours,  to  investigate  the  natural  history  of  the  island. 
Khitroff  circumnavigated  the  island  and  found  various 
traces  of  human  habitation.  Thus,  on  one  of  the  adjacent 
islands,  a  timbered  house  was  found  containing  a  fireplace, 
a  bark  basket,  a  wooden  spade,  some  mussel  shells,  and  a 
whetstone,  which  apparently  had  been  used  for  sharpen- 
ing copper  implements.  In  an  earth-hut  another  detach- 
ment had  found  some  smoked  fish,  a  broken  arrow,  the 
remains  of  a  fire,  and  several  other  things.  The  coast  of 
the  mainland,  which  was  mountainous  with  snow-capped 
peaks,  was  seen  at  a  distance  of  eight  miles.  A  good  har- 
bor was  found  on  the  north  side  of  the  large  island.  All 
the  islands  were  covered  with  trees,  but  these  were  so  low 
and  slender  that  timber  available  for  yards  was  not  to  be 
found.  On  his  venturesome  wanderings  here,  only  now 
and  then  accompanied  by  a  Cossack,  Steller  penetrated 
these  woods,  where  he  discovered  a  cellar,  which  con- 
tained articles  of  food  and  various  implements.  As  some 
of  these  things  were  sent  on  board,  Bering,  by  way  of 


142  VITUS   BERING. 

indemnification,  caused  to  be  placed  there  an  iron  kettle, 
a  pound  of  tobacco,  a  Chinese  pipe,  and  a  piece  of 
silk  cloth. 


CHAPTEE  XVI. 

BERING'S  PLACE  OF  LANDING  ON  THE  AMERICAN  COAST. 
—  CAPTAIN  COOK'S  UNCERTAINTY. —  THE  QUESTION 
DISCUSSED  AND  DEFINITELY  SETTLED. 

IN  geographical  literature  complete  uncertainty  in 
regard  to  Bering's  island  St.  Elias  and  its  situation 
off  the  American  coast  still  prevails.  This  uncertainty  is 
due  partly  to  Miiller  and  partly  to  Cook.  Miiller  is 
inaccurate;  in  fact,  confused.  He  says  that  Bering  saw 
the  American  continent  in  a  latitude  of  58°  28',  and  at 
a  difference  of  longitude  from  Avacha  of  50°  (in  reality, 
58°  14'  and  56°  30'),  but  he  gives  neither  the  latitude 
nor  longitude  of  the  island  of  St.  Elias,  which  is  the 
important  point,  and  on  his  map  of  1758,  where  he  goes 
into  details  more  than  in  his  description,  he  marked  on 
latitude  58°  28':  "  Coast  discovered  by  Bering  in  1741." 
On  such  vague  reports  nothing  can  be  based.  In  the 
ship's  journal,  however,  which  Miiller  in  all  likelihood 
must  have  seen,  the  latitude  of  the  island  is  entered  as 
59°  40',  and  the  longitude,  according  to  the  ship's 
calculations,  as  48°  50'  east  of  Avacha.  But  as  Bering's 
calculations,  on  account  of  the  strong  current,  which  in 
these  waters  flows  at  a  rate  of  twenty  miles,  had  an 
error  of  about  8°,  the  longitude  becomes  56°  30'  east  of 
Avacha,  and  at  this  astronomical  point,  approximately 

143 


144  VITUS   BERING. 

correct,  lies  Kayak  Island,  which  is  Cook's  Kayes  Island, 
having  a  latitude  of  59°  47'  and  a  longitude  of  56°  44' 
east  of  Avacha,  and  hence  the  question  is  to  prove  that 
this  island  really  is  the  Guanahani  of  the  Russians,  that 
is,  St.  Elias. 

Cook  is  the  authority  for  the  opinion  which  has 
hitherto  prevailed ;  but  surely  no  one  can  be  more 
uncertain  and  cautious  on  this  point  than  he.  He  says: 
"  Miiller's  report  of  the  voyage  is  so  abbreviated,  and  his 
map  is  so  extremely  inaccurate,  that  it  is  scarcely  possible 
from  the  one  or  the  other,  or  by  comparing  both,  to 
point  out  a  single  place  that  this  navigator  either  saw  or 
landed  on.  If  I  were  to  venture  an  opinion  on  Bering's 
voyage  along  this  coast,  I  should  say  that  he  sighted  land 
in  the  vicinity  of  Mt.  Fairweather.  But  I  am  in  no  way 
certain  that  the  bay  which  I  named  in  his  honor  is  the 
place  where  he  anchored.  Nor  do  I  know  whether  the 
mountain  which  I  called  Mt.  St.  Elias  is  the  same 
conspicuous  peak  to  which  he  gave  this  name,  and  I  am 
entirely  unable  to  locate  his  Cape  St.  Elias." 

It  would  seem  that  such  uncertain  and  reserved  opin- 
ions were  scarcely  liable  to  be  repeated  without  comment 
or  criticism.  But  nevertheless,  the  few  reminiscences  of 
this  chapter  of  Bering's  explorations  which  our  present 
geography  has  preserved  are  obtained  principally  from 
Cook's  map ;  for  the  first  successors  of  this  great 
navigator,  Dixon,  1785,  La  Perouse,  1786,  Malespina, 
1791,  and  Vancouver,  1792,  through  whose  efforts  the 
northwest  coast  was  scientifically  charted,  maintained, 
with  a  few  unimportant  changes,  Cook's  views  on  this 
point.  According  to  these  views,  Bering  Bay  was  in 


THE   VARIOUS   EXPEDITIONS.  145 

59°  18'  north  latitude  and  139°  west  longitude,  but  Cook 
had  not  himself  explored  this  bay;  he  had  simply  found 
indications  of  a  bay,  and  hence  La  Perouse  and 
Vancouver,  whose  explorations  were  much  more  in 
detail,  and  who  at  this  place  could  find  no  bay,  were 
obliged  to  seek  elsewhere  for  it.  La  Perouse  puts  Bering 
Bay  10'  farther  south,  at  the  present  Alsekh  River, 
northwest  of  Mt.  Fairweather,  the  lagoon-shaped  mouth 
of  which  he  calls  Riviere  de  Bering,  and  Vancouver  was 
of  the  opinion  that  in  La  Perouse's  Bay  de  Monti, 
Dixon's  Admiralty  Bay,  59°  42'  N.  lat.,  he  had  found 
Bering's  place  of  landing.  Vancouver's  opinion  has 
hitherto  held  its  own.  The  names  Bering  Bay,  Admir- 
alty Bay,  or,  as  the  Russians  call  it,  Yakutat,  are  found 
side  by  side;  the  latter,  however,  is  beginning  to  displace 
the  former,  and  properly  so,  for  Bering  was  never  in  or 
near  this  bay.* 

While  this  Cook  cartography  fixed  Bering's  place  of 
landing  too  far  east,  the  Russians  committed  the  opposite 
error.  On  the  chart  with  which  the  Admiralty  provided 
Captain  Billings  on  his  great  Pacific  expedition,  the 
southern  point  of  the  Island  of  Montague,  in  Prince 
William's  Sound,  (the  Russian  name  of  the  island  is 
Chukli),  is  given  as  Bering's  promontory  St.  Elias,  and 
the  Admiralty  gave  him  the  right,  as  soon  as  the 
expedition  reached  this  point,  to  assume  a  higher  military 
rank,  something  which  he  actually  did.  But  Admiral 
Krusenstern,  with  his  usual  keenness,  comes  as  near  the 
truth  as  it  was  possible  without  having  Bering's  own 
chart  and  the  ship's  journal.  He  thinks  that,  according 

*  Note  57. 


146  VITUS   BERING. 

to  Steller's  narrative,  the  St.  Peter  must  have  touched 
America  farther  west  than  Yakutat  Bay,  and  considers 
it  quite  probable  that  their  anchoring  place  must  be 
sought  at  one  of  the  passages  leading  into  Controller 
Bay,  either  between  Cape  Suckling  (which  on  Kussian 
maps  is  sometimes  called  Cape  St.  Elias)  and  Point 
Le  Mesurier,  or  between  the  islands  Kayak  and 
Wingham.  We  shall  soon  see  that  this  last  supposition 
is  correct.  0.  Peschel  has  not  ventured  wholly  to  accept 
Krusenstern's  opinion,  but  he  nevertheless  calls  attention 
to  the  fact  that  Bering  Bay  is  not  correctly  located.  He 
fixes  Bering's  landing  place  west  of  Kayak  Island,  and 
contends  against  considering  Mt.  St.  Elias  as  the 
promontory  seen  by  Bering,  something  which  would 
seem  quite  superfluous.* 

This  uncertainty  is  all  the  more  striking,  as,  from 
the  beginning  of  this  century,  there  have  been  accessible, 
in  the  works  of  Sauer  and  Sarycheff,  facts  enough  to 
establish  the  identity  of  the  island  of  St.  Elias  with  the 
present  Kayak  Island,  and  since  the  publication  of 
Bering's  own  map,  in  1851,  by  the  Russian  Admiralty, 
there  can  no  longer  be  a  shadow  of  a  doubt.  The  map 
is  found  in  the  appendix  of  this  work,  and  hence  a 
comparison  between  the  islands  of  St.  Elias  and  Kayak 
is  possible  (Map  IV).  The  astronomical  situation  of  the 
islands,  their  position  with  reference  to  the  mainland, 
their  surroundings,  coast-lines,  and  geographical  exten- 
sion, the  depths  of  the  sea  about  both — everything  proves 
that  they  are  identical;  and,  moreover,  Sauer's  and 
Sarycheff's  descriptions,  which  are  quite  independent  of 

*  Note  58. 


THE  VAEIOUS   EXPEDITIONS.  147 

the  St.  Peter's  journal,  coincide  exactly  with  the  journal's 
references  to  the  island  of  St.  Elias.  Sauer  says  that  the 
island,  from  its  most  southerly  point,  extends  in  a  north- 
easterly direction  ("trend  north  46°  east"),  that  it  is 
twelve  English  miles  long  and  two  and  a  half  miles 
wide,  that  west  of  the  island's  most  northerly  point  there 
is  a  smaller  island  (Wingham),  with  various  islets  nearer 
the  mainland,  by  which  a  well-protected  harbor  is  formed 
behind  a  bar,  with  about  seven  feet  of  water  at  ebb-tide, 
— hence  just  at  the  place  where  Khitroff,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  found  an  available  harbor  for  the  St.  Peter. 
The  journal,  as  well  as  Steller,  describes  St.  Elias  as 
mountainous,  especially  in  the  southern  part,  thickly 
covered  with  low,  coniferous  trees,  and  Waxel  particularly 
mentions  the  fact  that  off  the  coast  of  the  island's 
southern  point,  Bering's  Cape  St.  Elias,'  there  was  a 
single  cliff  in  the  sea,  a  "  kekur,"  which  is  also  marked 
on  the  map.  Sarycheff  and  Sauer  speak  of  Kayak  Island 
as  mountainous  and  heavily  timbered.  Its  southern 
extremity  rises  above  the  rest  of  the  island  and  ends  very 
abruptly  in  a  naked,  white,  saddle-shaped  mountain.  A 
solitary  cliff  of  the  same  kind  of  rock,  a  pyramid-shaped 
pillar  ("kekur,"  " Afispringer " )  lies  a  few  yards  from 
the  point.  Cook,  too,  in  his  fine  outlines  of  Kayak 
Island,  puts  this  cliff  directly  south  of  the  point.  If  we 
then  consider  that  the  true  dimensions  of  Bering's  island 
plainly  point  to  Kayak,  that  his  course  along  the  new 
coast  is  possible  only  on  the  same  supposition  that  the 
direction  in  which  Bering  from  his  anchorage  saw  Mt. 
St.  Elias  exactly  coincides  with  this  mountain's  position 
with  reference  to  Kayak,  that  the  soundings  given  by  him 


148  VITUS   BERING. 

agree  with  those  of  Kayak,  but  do  not  agree  with  those 
of  Montague  Island,  which  is  surrounded  by  far  more 
considerable  depths  that  have  none  of  the  above  described 
characteristics,  and  which,  moreover,  has  so  great  a 
circumference  that  Khitroff  could  not  possibly  have  cir- 
cumnavigated it  in  twelve  hours,  and  finally,  consid- 
ering the  fact  that  everything  which  Steller  gives  as 
signs  that  a  large  current  debouched  near  his  anchor- 
age finds  an  obvious  explanation  in  the  great  Copper 
or  Atna  estuary,  in  60°  17'  N.,  then  it  will  be  diffi- 
cult to  resist  the  conviction  that  Kayak  is  Bering's 
St.  Elias,  and  that  Vancouver's  Cape  Hammond  is  his 
Cape  St.  Elias. 

Moreover,  the  traditions  of  the  natives  corroborate 
this  conclusion.  While  Billings's  expedition  was  in  Prince 
William's  Sound,  says  Sauer,  an  old  man  came  on  board 
and  related  that  every  summer  his  tribe  went  on  hunting 
expeditions  to  Kayak.  *  Many  years  before,  while  he  was 
a  boy,  the  first  ship  came  to  the  island  and  anchored 
close  to  its  western  coast.  A  boat  was  sent  ashore,  but 
when  it  approached  land  all  the  natives  fled,  and  not 
until  the  ship  had  disappeared  did  they  return  to  their 
huts,  where  in  their  underground  store-rooms  they  found 
some  beads,  leaves  (tobacco),  an  iron  kettle,  and  some 
other  things.  Sarycheff  gives  an  account  of  this  meet- 
ing, which  in  the  main  agrees  with  Billings's.  These 
stories  also  agree  with  Steller's  account,  f 

These  facts  have  not  before,  so  far  as  the  author 
knows,  been  linked  together,  but  Sokoloff  states,  with- 
out proof,  however,  that  Bering's  landfall  was  Kayak 

*  Note  59.          t  Note  60. 


THE  VAEIOUS   EXPEDITIONS.  149 

Island.*  This  correct  view  is  now  beginning  to  find  its 
way  into  American  maps,  where,  in  the  latest  works, 
Cape  St.  Elias  will  be  found  in  the  proper  place,  together 
with  a  Bering  Haven  on  the  northern  coast  of  Kayak,  f 

*  Bancroft,  History  of  Alaska,  p.  79,  presents  the  same  view:  "The  iden- 
tity of  Kayak  is  established  by  comparing  Bering's  with  Cook's  observations, 
which  would  be  enough  even  if  the  chart  appended  to  KhitrofFs  journal  had 
not  been  preserved.  At  first  both  Cook  and  Vancouver  thought  it  Yakutat 
Bay,  which  they  named  after  Bering,  but  both  changed  their  minds.  As  late 
as  1787  the  Russian  Admiralty  college  declared  that  the  island  Chukli  (Mon- 
tague of  Vancouver)  was  the  point  of  Bering's  discovery,  but  Admiral  Sary- 
cheff,  who  examined  the  journals  of  the  expedition,  pointed  at  once  to 
Kayak  Island  as  the  only  point  to  which  the  description  of  Bering  and 
Steller  could  apply.  Sarycheff  made  one  mistake  in  applying  the  name  of 
Cape  St.  Elias  to  the  nearest  point  of  the  mainland  called  Cape  Suckling  by 
Cook."— TB. 

+  Note  61. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

EXPLORATION'S  ALONG  THE  AMERICAN  COAST. — STELLER*S 
CENSURE  OF  BERING  FOR  UNDUE  HASTE. —  BERING 
DEFENDED. — DALL,  THE  AMERICAN  WRITER,  REPRI- 
MANDED.— THE  RETURN  VOYAGE. 

TT  is  by  no  means  an  easy  matter  to  form  an  unbiased 
-*-  opinion  of  Bering's  stay  off  Kayak  Island.  Steller 
is  about  our  only  authority,  but  just  at  the  point  where 
it  is  most  difficult  to  supplement  his  account,  he  gives 
vent  to  most  violent  accusations  against  the  management 
of  the  expedition  from  a  scientific  standpoint.  On  the 
16th  of  July,  when  land  was  first  seen,  he  says:  "One 
can  easily  imagine  how  happy  all  were  to  see  land.  No 
one  failed  to  congratulate  Bering,  as  chief  of  the  expedi- 
tion, to  whom  above  all  others  the  honor  of  discovery 
belonged.  Bering,  however,  heard  all  this,  not  only  with 
great  indifference,  but,  looking  toward  land,  he  even 
shrugged  his  shoulders  in  the  presence  of  all  on  board." 
Steller  adds  that  on  account  of  this  conduct  charges 
might  have  been  preferred  against  him  in  St.  Petersburg, 
had  he  lived. 

As  Bering  during  the  first  few  succeeding  days  did  not 
make  any  preparations  for  a  scientific  exploration  of  the 
country,  as  he  even  tried,  according  to  Steller's  assurance, 
to  dissuade  the  latter  from  making  the  island  a  visit,  and 

150 


THE   VAEIOUS   EXPEDITIONS.  151 

as  Steller  only  through  a  series  of  oaths  and  threats  (for 
thus  p.  30  must  undoubtedly  be  interpreted)  could  obtain 
permission  to  make,  without  help  or  even  a  guard  for  pro- 
tection, a  short  stay  on  the  island,  his  anger  grew  to  rage, 
which  reached  its  culmination  on  the  following  morning 
when  Bering  suddenly  gave  orders  that  the  St.  Peter 
should  leave  the  island.  "The  only  reason  for  this,"  he 
says,  "  was  stupid  obstinacy,  fear  of  a  handful  of  natives, 
and  pusillanimous  homesickness.  For  ten  years  Bering 
had  equipped  himself  for  this  great  enterprise;  the  explo- 
rations lasted  ten  hours  ! "  Elsewhere  he  says  derisively 
that  they  had  gone  to  the  New  World  "simply  to  bring 
American  water  to  Asia." 

These  accusations  must  seem  very  serious  to  every 
modern  reader.  Unfortunately  for  Bering,  his  second 
voyage  is  of  interest  principally  from  the  standpoint  of 
natural  history.  It  is  especially  naturalists  that  have 
studied  it.  They  are  predisposed  to  uphold  Steller. 
Hence  his  account  threatens  wholly  to  undermine  Bering's 
reputation,  and  as  a  matter  of  course,  W.  H.  Dall,  in  dis- 
cussing this  subject,  finds  opportunity  to  heap  abuse  upon 
Bering.  He  says:  "On  the  18th  of  July,  Bering  saw 
land.  On  the  20th  he  anchored  under  an  island.  Between 
two  capes,  which  he  called  St.  Elias  and  St.  Hermogenes, 
was  a  bay  where  two  boats  were  sent  for  water  and  to  rec- 
onnoitre. *  *  *  With  characteristic  imbecility,  Bering 
resolved  to  put  to  sea  again  on  the  next  day,  the  21st  of 
July.  Sailing  to  the  northward,  the  commander  was 
confused  among  the  various  islands,  and  sailed  hither 
and  thither,  occasionally  landing,  but  making  no  explora- 
tions, and  showing  his  total  incapacity  for  the  position 


152  VITUS  BERING. 

he  occupied.     He  took  to  his  bed,  and  Lieutenant  Waxel 
assumed  charge  of  the  vessel/'  * 

This  is  not  writing  history.  It  is  only  a  series  of  errors 
and  incivilities.  It  was  not  the  18th  of  July  that  Bering 
first  saw  land.  He  did  not  sail  north  from  Kayak,  but 
southwest,  and  hence  could  not  have  lost  his  course 
among  islands,  for  here  there  are  no  islands.  Nor  did  he 
sail  hither  and  thither,  but  kept  the  course  that  had 
been  laid  out,  and  charted  the  coasts  he  saw  in  this 
course.  The  most  ridiculous  part  of  this  is  what  this 
nautical  author  tells  of  the  bay  between  Cape  St.  Elias 
and  Cape  St.  Hermogenes  (Marmot  Island  off  the  coast 
of  Kadiak  Island),  for  these  points  are  farther  apart 
than  Copenhagen  and  Bremen.  If,  according  to  this 
writer,  Bering  was  unpardonably  stupid,  he  must  have 
been,  on  the  other  hand,  astonishingly  "far-sighted." 
After  these  statements  it  will  surprise  no  one  that  this 
author  considers  illness  a  kind  of  crime,  and  blames  a 
patient,  sixty  years  of  age,  suffering  with  the  scurvy, 
for  taking  to  his  bed !  If  Mr.  Ball  had  taken  the  trouble 
to  study  the  Bering  literature  to  which  he  himself  refers 
in  his  bibliography  of  Alaska,  he  would  have  been  in  a 
position  to  pass  an  independent  opinion  of  the  navigator, 
and  would  certainly  have  escaped  making  this  series  of 
stupid  statements.  His  words  now  simply  serve  to  show 
how  difficult  it  is  to  eradicate  prejudice,  and  how  tena- 
cious of  life  a  false  or  biased  judgment  can  be.  Death 
prevented  Bering  from  defending  and  explaining  his 
conduct.  No  one  has  since  that  time  sought  to  render 
him  justice.  I  therefore  consider  it  my  duty — even  if 

*  Note  62. 


THE  VAEIOUS  EXPEDITIONS.  153 

I  should  seem  to  be  yielding  to  the  biographer's  beset- 
ting sin — to  produce  everything  that  can  be  said  in 
Bering's  defense. 

In  the  first  place,  then,  it  must  be  remembered  that 
on  the  21st  of  July  Bering  had  provisions  left  for  no  more 
than  three  months,  and  that  these  were  not  good  and 
wholesome.  His  crew,  and  he  himself,  were  already  suf- 
fering from  scurvy  to  such  an  extent  that  two  weeks  later 
one-third  of  them  were  on  the  sick-list.  Furthermore, 
he  was  over  fifty-six  degrees  of -longitude  from  his  nearest 
port  of  refuge,  with  a  crew  but  little  accustomed  to  the 
sea.  The  American  coast  in  that  latitude  was  not, 
according  to  Bering's  judgment,  nor  is  it  according  to  our 
present  knowledge,  in  any  way  a  fit  place  to  winter,  and 
besides,  he  knew  neither  the  sea  nor  its  islands  and  depths, 
its  currents  and  prevailing  winds.  All  this  could  not  but 
urge  him  to  make  no  delay.  And,  in  fact,  Steller  himself 
expressly  says  that  it  was  a  series  of  such  considerations 
that  determined  Bering's  conduct.  "Pusillanimous 
homesickness"  can  scarcely  have  had  any  influence  on 
a  man  who  from  his  youth  had  roamed  about  in  the 
world  and  lived  half  a  generation  in  the  wilds  of  Sibe- 
ria. "  The  good  Commander,"  thus  Steller  expresses  him- 
self, "was  far  superior  to  all  the  other  officers  in  divin- 
ing the  future,  and  in  the  cabin  he  once  said  to  myself 
and  Mr.  Plenisner:  '  We  think  now  that  we  have  found 
everything,  and  many  are  pregnant  with  great  expecta- 
tions ;  but  they  do  not  consider  where  we  have  landed, 
how  far  we  are  from  home,  and  what  yet  may  befall  us. 
Who  knows  but  what  we  may  meet  trade  winds  that 
will  prevent  our  return?  We  are  unacquainted  with  the 


154  VITUS   BERING. 

country,  and  are  unprovided  with  provisions  for  win- 
tering here/* 

It  must  be  conceded  that  his  position  was  one  fraught 
with  difficulties.  At  this  point  there  are  two  things  which 
Steller  either  has  not  correctly  understood,  or  suppresses. 
According  to  his  instructions,  Bering  was  authorized  to 
spend  two  years  and  make  two  voyages  in  the  discovery 
of  America,  and  to  undertake  another  expedition  after- 
wards with  new  preparations  and  equipments.  And  in  his 
explanations  to  the  crew  he  calls  special  attention  to  this 
point.  Under  these  circumstances  it  would  not  have  been 
right  in  him  to  assume  any  more  risks  than  absolutely 
necessary.  But  here  again  the  old  opposition  between 
Bering's  nautico-geographical  and  Steller's  physico-geo- 
graphical  interests  breaks  out.  As  a  discoverer  of  the  old 
school  Bering's  principal  object  was  to  determine  some 
elementary  geographical  facts :  namely,  the  distribution 
of  land  and  water  along  the  new  coast,  and  hence  he  left 
Kayak  Island,  not  to  reach  Avacha  as  soon  as  possible, 
but  to  follow  the  coast  of  the  newly  discovered  country 
toward  the  west  and  north.  All  authorities  agree  on  this 
point.  It  was  illness  and  the  Aliaska  peninsula,  project- 
ing so  far  into  the  ocean  as  it  does,  that  prevented  him 
from  sailing  up  toward  latitude  65°,  his  real  goal.  Even 
Steller  testifies  to  this,  and  although  he  repeats  his  former 
accusations  against  Bering,  it  does  not  signify  anything, 
as  he  was  excluded  from  the  councils  and  was  obliged  to 
guess  at  what  was  adopted.  His  accusations  are  especially 
insignificant  from  the  fact  that  he  definitely  contradicts 
himself  on  this  point,  for  later  on  in  his  narrative  he  says 
that  not  until  the  llth  of  August  was  it  resolved,  on 


THE   VARIOUS   EXPEDITIONS.  155 

account  of  the  approaching  autumn  and  the  great  dis- 
tance from  home,  to  start  immediately  on  the  return  voy- 
age to  Kamchatka.  That  is  to  say,  they  had  not  then 
made  a  start.  Until  the  llth  of  August,  for  three  weeks 
after  their  departure  from  Kayak,  Bering  pursued  his 
task  of  nautical  discovery  along  the  new  coast,  and  it 
would  seem  that  he  can  be  blamed  for  nothing  more  than 
considering  this  work  of  the  expedition  more  important 
than  that  of  the  physico-geographical  investigation  which 
Steller  represented.  This  was  but  natural.  It  was  merely 
accidental  that  Steller  accompanied  Bering,  and  through 
him  the  expedition  received  a  modern  cast,  which  was  not 
at  all  designed,  and  which  Bering  desired  to  make  use  of 
only  under  favorable  circumstances.  We  may  regret  his 
haste,  and  we  may  especially  regret  the  fact  that  so  keen 
and  clever  a  naturalist  as  Steller  did  not  get  an  opportu- 
nity to  explore  the  regions  west  of  Mount  St.  Elias  before 
European  trade  and  white  adventurers  put  in  an  appear- 
ance ;  but  it  hardly  seems  a  question  of  doubt  whether 
anyone  for  that  reason  has  a  right  to  make  accusations 
against  the  chief  of  the  expedition. 

It  was  very  early  on  the  morning  of  July  21  that  the 
chief  suddenly,  and  contrary  to  his  custom,  appeared  on 
deck  and  gave  the  command  to  weigh  anchor  and  stand 
out  to  sea.  In  doing  this  he  set  aside  his  instructions 
from  headquarters  to  act  in  accordance  with  the  ship's 
council.  He  acted  as  a  sovereign  chief,  and  notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  both  of  his  lieutenants  thought  it 
wrong  to  leave  the  newly  discovered  coast  without  an 
adequate  supply  of  water,  he  overruled  all  objections 
and  informed  them  that  he  assumed  all  responsibility  for 


156  VITUS   BERING. 

his  conduct.  He  was  convinced  of  the  entire  necessity 
of  it,  he  said,  and  thought  it  unsafe  to  remain  longer  in 
this  exposed  anchorage.  Time  did  not  permit  him  to  go 
in  search  of  the  harbor  found  by  Khitroff  on  the  day 
previous,  and  there  was  moreover  a  seaward  breeze.  One 
fourth  of  the  water-casks  remained  unfilled. 

Before  a  strong  east  wind,  the  St.  Peter  on  that  day 
made  fifty  miles  on  a  southwesterly  course.  During 
the  two  succeeding  days,  he  continued  in  this  general 
direction.  It  was  misty,  and  the  coast  was  invisible,  but 
the  sounding-line  continued  to  show  a  depth  of  from 
forty  to  fifty  fathoms.  In  a  council,  concerning  the 
deliberations  of  which  Steller  has  a  very  confused  and 
incorrect  account,  it  was  decided,  on  July  25,  to  sail 
slowly  towards  Petropavlovsk  and,  at  intervals  as  wind 
and  weather  permitted,  to  head  for  the  north  and  west,  in 
order  to  explore  the  coast  they  had  left. 

They  continued  on  their  southwesterly  course,  and  on 
the  next  morning,  July  26,  they  were  off  the  Kadiak 
archipelago.  In  a  latitude  of  56°  30',  and  about  sixteen 
miles  toward  the  north,  they  saw  a  high  and  projecting 
point,  which  Bering  called  St.  Hermogenes,  in  honor  of 
the  patron  saint  of  the  day.  He  thought  that  this  point 
was  a  continuation  of  the  continent  they  had  left  behind 
them,  and  as  such  it  is  represented  on  both  Miiller's  and 
KrasilnikofFs  manuscript  maps  in  the  archives  of  the 
Admiralty.  On  his  third  voyage,  Cook  explored  the 
Kadiak  group,  which  he  too  had  assumed  to  be  a  part  of 
the  mainland.  He  now  found  that  Bering's  promontory 
was  a  small  island  east  of  Afognak,  but  out  of  respect  for 
Bering,  he  retained  the  original  name.  Krusenstern  also 


THE   VARIOUS   EXPEDITIONS.  157 

calls  it  St.  Hermogenes  Island,  but  later  the  Russians 
changed  it  to  Euratchey  Island,  on  account  of  the  great 
number  of  marmots  there,  and  since  the  United  States 
came  into  possession  of  it,  the  name  has  been  translated, 
and  it  is  now  known  as  Marmot  Island.*  Steller  has  not 
a  single  word  in  his  diary  about  St.  Hermogenes,  and 
besides,  his  account  at  this  point  is  full  of  inaccuracies. 

"Consequently,  until  July  26,"  he  says,  "we  sailed 
along  the  coast,  as  these  gentlemen  thought  it  was 
necessary  to  follow  it,  while  it  would  have  been  sufficient, 
at  intervals  of  a  hundred  versts,  to  have  sailed  a  degree  or 
two  toward  the  north."  He  thus  blames  them  for  not 
having  followed  the  method  which  at  about  that  time 
they  had  agreed  upon,  and  later  did  follow.  His  story 
of  their  having,  for  the  first  five  days,  sailed  along  the 
coast,  simply  proves,  in  connection  with  a  series  of  other 
incidents  in  his  work,  that  things  were  not  entered  in  his 
diary  daily,  but  written  down  later  from  memory;  hence 
its  value  as  proof  is  considerably  diminished. 

Along  the  southeastern  coast  of  Kadiak  the  voyage 
was  very  dangerous.  The  average  depth  was  twenty-five 
fathoms;  the  water  was  very  roily,  the  weather  heavy  with 
fog  and  rain,  and  the  wind  violent.  Not  until  the  31st 
of  July  was  c'ne  weather  clear  enough  for  an  observation, 
when  they  found  themselves  in  a  latitude  of  54°  49',  and 
had  passed  the  Kadiak  archipelago. 

In  accordance  with  the  plan  adopted,  they  here  veered 
to  the  northwest  co  seek  the  mainland  for  the  purpose  of 
determining  its  trend.  On  the  night  of  August  1  (and  2), 
they  suddenly  approached  land,  having  only  four  fathoms 

*  Note  63. 


158  VITUS   BERING. 

of  water  below  the  keel.  There  was  a  heavy  fog,  no  wind, 
and  a  swift  current,  but  they  succeeded  in  shifting  about 
and  getting  out  into  eighteen  fathoms  of  water,  where 
they  anchored  to  await  daybreak.  In  the  morning,  at 
eight  o'clock,  a  small  island  was  seen  at  a  distance  of  four 
miles.  It  was  three  miles  long,  with  an  east  to  west 
trend.  A  long  reef  extended  out  into  the  sea  from  the 
eastern  point,  seen  by  them  in  a  direction  E.  S.  E.  by  E. 
In  the  evening  they  weighed  anchor,  having  a  heavy  fog, 
and  on  the  next  morning,  the  island  was  seen  at  a  dis- 
tance of  seven  geographical  miles  toward  the  south.  Its 
latitude  was  calculated  as  55°  32',  but  as  all  of  Bering's 
determinations  of  latitude  on  his  return  voyage  from 
America  show  an  error  of  from  30'  to  45'  less  than  the 
true  latitude,  it  must  be  concluded  that  the  island  was 
in  latitude  56°  and  some  minutes.  He  called  the  island 
St.  Stephen  from  the  calendar  day,  but  his  crew  or 
lieutenants  must  have  called  it  Foggy  Island  (Tumannoi), 
as  even  Krasilnikoff's  manuscript  map,  in  the  possession 
of  the  Admiralty,  has  this  name.  Later  the  cartography 
of  this  region  became  considerably  confused.  The  name 
St.  Stephen  disappeared.  Cook  called  another  island  Fog 
Island,  while  it  became  customary  to  consider  the  island 
discovered  by  Bering  as  identical  with  Ukamok  (Chiri- 
koff  Island,  Vancouver's  Island),  where  the  Russians  had 
a  colony,  and  thus  the  island  itself  was  finally  lost  to 
geography.  Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  Admiral 
Krusenstern,  in  a  clever  essay,  has  given  an  able 
review  of  the  literature  pertaining  to  this  question, 
and  has  shown  that  where  Bering  saw  St.  Stephen, 
Cook,  Sarycheff,  and  Vancouver  likewise  saw  an  island, 


THE   VARIOUS   EXPEDITIONS.  159 

different  from  Ukamok,  and  regardless  of  the  fact  that 
for  these  reasons  he  restored  St.  Stephen  on  his  map, 
Lieutenant  Sokoloff,  who  most  recently,  in  Russian 
literature,  has  treated  Bering's  voyage  to  America,  has 
wholly  disregarded  Krusenstern's  essay,  and  says  that 
St.  Stephen  is  identical  with  Ukamok.  Sokoloff's  essay 
is  very  superficial,  and,  compared  with  Krusenstern's 
weighty  reasons,  is  based  on  mere  supposition.  But, 
although  the  map  of  the  North  Pacific,  in  the  Russian 
Admiralty  (1844),  has  a  Tumannoi  Island  (that  is,  Foggy 
Island,  St.  Stephen)  somewhat  northeast  of  Ukamok,  it 
must  be  admitted  that,  until  the  United  States  under- 
takes a  new  and  careful  survey  of  the  Aliaska  peninsula 
and  its  southern  surroundings,  this  question  can  not  be 
thoroughly  decided,  probable  as  it  may  be  that  Bering 
and  Krusenstern  are  both  right. 

August  3,  the  voyage  was  continued  toward  the  north- 
west. In  a  latitude  of  56°  (according  to  Steller)  they 
saw  the  high  snow-capped  mountain  peaks  of  the  Aliaska 
peninsula  in  a  direction  N.  N.  W.  by  W.,  but  on  account 
of  stormy  and  foggy  weather  they  sought,  with  an  easterly 
wind,  to  get  back  into  their  main  course.  Thus  they 
reached,  August  4,  the  Jefdokjejefski  Islands  in  a  direc- 
tion S.  S.  E.  f  by  E.,  at  a  distance  of  twenty  miles  from 
55°  45'  N.  These  form  a  group  of  seven  high  and  rocky 
islands,  which  on  Russian  maps  still  bears  the  same  name, 
but  in  West  Europe  this  name  has  been  displaced,  and 
they  are  usually  called  the  Semidi,  or  Semidin,  Islands, 
the  name  of  the  largest  of  the  group. 

On  August  7,  they  found  themselves  south  of  the 
Jefdokjejefski  Islands.  But  now  misfortunes  began  to 


160  VITUS   BERING. 

pour  in  upon  them.  They  encountered  adverse  winds 
which  continued  with  but  few  interruptions  during  the 
succeeding  months.  The  St.  Peter  was  tossed  about  on 
the  turbulent  and  unfamiliar  waters  of  the  Aleutian  archi- 
pelago, where  the  crew  experienced  an  adventure  so 
fraught  with  suffering  and  dire  events  that  it  is  quite 
beyond  compare  in  the  history  of  discoveries.  At  the 
same  time,  the  scurvy  got  the  upper  hand.  Bering  had 
a  severe  attack  which  rendered  him  unfit  for  service. 
With  his  illness  the  bonds  of  discipline  were  relaxed. 
Under  these  circumstances  there  was  called,  on  the  10th 
of  August,  an  extraordinary  council,  in  which  all  the 
officers  participated.  At  this  meeting  it  was  finally 
decided  to  give  up  the  charting  of  the  American  coast, 
and  immediately  start  out  upon  the  direct  route  home- 
ward on  parallel  52°,  the  latitude  of  Avacha.  The 
whole  crew,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  signed  this 
resolution.  The  facts  taken  into  consideration  were  that 
September  had  been  fixed  as  the  extreme  limit  of  time 
within  which  to  return  home,  and  that  they  were  then 
in  the  middle  of  August.  Avacha  was  at  least  1600 
miles  distant,  autumn  was  at  hand  with  dark  nights 
and  stormy  weather,  and  sixteen  of  the  crew  were 
already  sick  with  the  scurvy. 

With  a  strong  head-wind,  in  raw  and  foggy  weather, 
and  now  and  then  overtaken  by  fierce  storms,  they 
worked  their  way  slowly  along  until  the  27th  of  August. 
The  condition  of  affairs  on  board  had  grown  continually 
worse,  when  it  was  finally  announced  that  through  care- 
lessness and  irregularity  the  supply  of  water  had  been 
reduced  to  twenty-five  casks,  a  quantity  that  could  not 


THE   VARIOUS   EXPEDITIONS.  161 

possibly  suffice  for  the  1200  miles  which,  according  to 
their  calculations,  yet  remained.  Hence  it  was  necessary 
once  more  to  find  land  to  take  in  water,  and  on  the 
27th  the  St.  Peter's  prow  was  again  headed  for  Aliaska. 
They  sailed  north  one  degree  and  a  half,  and  after  a 
lapse  of  three  days  they  reached  a  multitude  of  high 
islands,  behind  which  the  coast  of  the  mainland  arose 
in  the  distance. 

August  30,  the  St.  Peter  lay  at  anchor  off  the  Shu- 
magins,  a  group  of  thirteen  treeless,  barren,  and  rocky 
islands  near  the  coast  of  Aliaska.  The  journal  gives  their 
situation  as  latitude  54°  48'  N.  and  longitude  35°  30'  E. 
from  Avacha.  While  the  latitude  as  here  determined 
has  the  usual  error,  referred  to  several  times  before, 
the  longitude  has  an  error  of  6-g-0.  Among  these  islands 
the  first  death  on  board  occurred.  It  was  the  sailor 
Shumagin,  who,  on  the  30th,  died  in  the  hands  of  his 
mates  as  they  were  taking  him  ashore.  The  islands 
were  named  in  honor  of  him.  On  the  whole  the  situa- 
tion was  most  deplorable.  Bering  had  fallen  away  so 
much  in  his  illness  that  he  could  not  stand,  and  the 
others  that  were  sick  were  carried  ashore,  and  lay  scat- 
tered along  the  coast,  giving  this  a  very  sad  and  sorrow- 
ful aspect.  Confusion  and  uncertainty  grew  apace,  as 
those  in  command  could  not  maintain  their  authority. 
Waxel  and  Khitroff,  the  highest  in  command,  bandied 
words,  whereas  the  situation  demanded  firmness  and 
vigor.  The  only  one  that  preserved  any  manner  of  self- 
possession  and  forethought  was  Steller.  He  immedi- 
ately went  ashore,  examined  the  vegetation  of  the  island, 
and  collected  a  large  number  of  anti-scorbutic  plants, 


162  VITUS   BERING. 

especially  scurvy-grass  and  berries,  with  which,  in  the 
course  of  a  week,  he  succeeded  in  restoring  Bering  to 
sufficient  strength  to  be  able  to  use  his  limbs.  Through 
the  use  of  the  same  remedies  the  other  sufferers  were 
relieved.  But  Steller  thought  also  of  the  future.  The 
medicine  chest  contained  "plasters  and  salves  for  half 
an  army,"  but  only  extremely  few  real  medicines,  and 
hence  he  suggested  to  Lieut.  Waxel,  who  was  then  in 
command,  that  he  send  a  number  of  sailors  ashore  to 
gather  anti-scorbutic  plants,  but  this  excellent  and 
timely  advice  was  rejected. 

Furthermore,  Steller  used  all  his  influence  to  procure 
good  water.  He  went  ashore  with  the  sailors  for  this 
purpose,  and  as  they  began  to  dip  water  from  the  first 
pool  they  found,  one,  too,  which  was  connected  with 
the  sea  during  high  tide,  he  directed  them  to  fresh 
springs  a  little  farther  in  the  interior,  but  the  crew  sent 
some  samples  on  board,  and  from  there  came  the  report 
that  the  water  was  good  enough.  Thus  it  was  that  a 
new  cause  of  disease — in  spite  of  Steller's  protestations — 
was  added  to  all  the  others.  The  water  was  brackish, 
and  on  standing  in  the  casks  became  unfit  for  use. 

On  the  whole  the  stay  at  the  Shumagins,  which  was 
unnecessarily  prolonged,  was  very  unfortunate.  The  St. 
Peter  lay  at  anchor  south  of  them  in  a  very  exposed  posi- 
tion. On  the  evening  of  August  29,  a  fire  was  seen  on 
one  of  the  islands,  and  on  this  account,  Khitroff  wished 
to  explore  them  more  thoroughly,  although  Waxel  firmly 
opposed  releasing  both  of  the  ship's  boats  under  the 
present  dangerous  circumstances.  By  applying  to  Bering, 
who  was  in  the  cabin,  and  hardly  understood  the  situation, 


THE   VARIOUS   EXPEDITIONS.  163 

Khitroff  had  his  way,  and  left  the  ship  with  the 
yawl  and  five  men.  He  was  gone  four  days,  during 
which  time  the  St.  Peter  was  forced  to  lie  at  anchor, 
while  a  favorable  east  wind  might  have  carried  them 
several  hundred  miles  toward  home.  The  yawl  was 
dashed  to  pieces  off  one  of  the  neighboring  islands,  and 
no  more  came  from  the  expedition  than  that  Lieutenant 
Waxel,  under  great  difficulty,  found  it  necessary  to  res- 
cue the  six  shipwrecked  adventurers.  Moreover,  they 
experienced  a  somewhat  uninteresting  clash  with  the 
Innuit  (Esquimo)*  inhabitants  of  the  Aliaska  peninsula, 
of  which  Miiller  and  Steller  both  give  a  detailed  account. 

*  For  a  full  description  of  these  people  see  H.  H.  Bancroft,  Native  Races, 
Vol.  L— TB. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE  DISCOVERY  OF  THE  ALEUTIAN  ISLANDS. — TERRIBLE 
HARDSHIPS  OF  THE  VOYAGE.  —  STELLER'S  FAULT-FIND- 
ING.— BERING  CONFINED  TO  HIS  CABIN. — DEATHS  ON 
BOARD  FROM  EXHAUSTION  AND  DISEASE. — BERING 
ISLAND  DISCOVERED. — A  NARROW  ESCAPE. 

HE  St.  Peter  left  the  Shumagin  Islands  September  6, 
and  sailed  southward  to  resume  the  direct  course. 
The  weather  was  very  bad,  with  alternating  fogs,  mist,  and 
storms.  A  west  wind  prevailed  almost  continuously. 
Now  and  then  a  regular  hurricane  crossed  their  course. 
If  occasionally  they  had  a  favorable  breeze,  it  seemed  to 
last  but  a  few  hours.  "  I  know  no  harder,  more  fatiguing 
life,"  says  one  of  the  St.  Peter's  officers,  "than  to  sail 
an  unknown  sea.  I  speak  from  experience,  and* with 
truth  can  say  that  during  the  five  months  I  spent  on  this 
voyage,  without  seeing  any  place  of  which  the  latitude 
and  longitude  had  been  fixed,  I  did  not  have  many  hours 
of  quiet  sleep.  We  were  in  constant  danger  and  uncer- 
tainty." 

As  a  last  resort,  they  even  thought  of  returning  to 
America,  or  of  reaching  Japan.  For  several  days  they 
were  swept  along  by  a  storm.  September  23,  the  second 
death  occurred,  and  on  the  24th  they  again  saw,  to  their 
great  astonishment,  land  toward  the  north.  They  were 

164 


THE  VABIOUS  EXPEDITIONS.  165 

then  on  about  the  51st  parallel.  They  were  of  the  opinion 
that  they  were  fourteen  degrees  from  the  Shumagins,  and 
supposed  that  they  were  21°  39'  from  Avacha,  which  of 
course  was  very  erroneous,  for  they  were  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  present  Atka.  As  they  saw  behind  the  islands  a 
high,  snow-capped  mountain,  which,  from  the  calendar 
day,  they  called  St.  Johannes,  they  supposed  the  land  to 
be  a  continuation  of  the  American  continent. 

During  the  next  seventeen  days,  from  the  25th  of 
September  until  the  llth  of  October,  they  carried  their 
lower  sails  only,  and  were  driven  by  a  stormy  west  wind 
five  degrees  toward  the  southeast  to  a  latitude  of  48°. 
"The  wind/'  says  Steller,  "seemed  as  if  it  issued  forth 
from  a  flue,  with  such  a  whistling,  roaring  and  rumbling, 
that  we  expected  every  moment  to  lose  mast  and  rudder, 
or  to  see  the  ship  crushed  between  the  breakers.  The 
dashing  of  a  heavy  sea  against  the  vessel  sounded  like 
the  report  of  a  cannon,  and  even  the  old,  experienced 
mate,  Andreas  Hesselberg,  assured  us  that  during  a 
sailor's  life  of  fifty  years  he  had  not  before  seen  such  a 
sea."  No  one  was  able  to  stand  at  his  post.  The  ship 
was  at  the  mercy  of  the  angry  elements.  Half  of  the 
crew  were  sick  and  feeble,  the  other  half  well  from  dire 
necessity,  but  were  confused  and  distracted  by  the  great 
danger.  For  many  days  no  cooking  could  be  done,  and 
all  they  had  that  was  fit  to  eat  was  some  burned  ship- 
biscuits,  and  even  these  were  on  the  point  of  becoming 
exhausted.  No  one  showed  any  firmness  of  purpose ; 
their  courage  was  as  "unsteady  as  their  teeth."  The 
officers  now  and  then  thought  of  returning  to  America, 
but  their  plans  changed  as  often  as  the  weather. 


166  VITUS   BERING. 

During  the  first  week  in  October  it  became  very  cold; 
heavy  storms  of  hail  and  snow  swept  over  the  ship  and 
made  the  work  on  board  almost  unendurable.  On  the 
6th  the  ship's  supply  of  brandy  gave  out,  and,  as  the 
storm  from  the  southwest  still  continued  to  rage,  Waxel 
seriously  proposed  to  return  to  America  and  seek  a  harbor 
of  refuge,  as  it  would  be  necessary  in  a  few  days,  on 
account  of  the  number  on  the  sick  list,  to  resign  the  ship 
to  the  mercy  of  the  waves. 

Bering,  however,  refused  to  entertain  this  idea,  and 
exhorted  the  crew  to  make  an  offering  to  the  church — 
the  Eussians  to  the  church  in  Petropavlovsk,  the  Luther- 
ans to  the  church  in  Viborg,  Finland,  where  Bering  had 
formerly  resided. 

As  elsewhere  on  this  whole  voyage,  Steller  was  here 
geographically  confused,  and  imagined  that  they  were 
sailing  in  a  latitude  of  50-53°,  while  in  reality  they  were 
on  the  48th  parallel,  and  hence  his  complaint  that  the 
officers  would  not  sail  to  this  parallel  to  get  a  better 
breeze,  signifies  nothing.  Miiller  gives  the  correct  posi- 
tion of  the  ship  when  he  says  that  on  the  12th  of  October 
it  was  in  latitude  48°  18',  but  he  too  is  wrong  when  he 
states  that  the  weather  did  not  permit  them  to  make  an 
observation,  for  just  at  this  time  they  had  fair  weather 
and  sunshine,  and  on  the  llth,  at  noon,  determined  the 
latitude  as  48°  15'  and  the  longitude  as  27°  east  of 
Avacha.  During  the  succeeding  ten  days  the  weather 
was  somewhat  more  favorable.  Clear  weather,  with  heavy 
frosts,  prevailed;  some  hail  and  snow  fell,  but  never- 
theless they  succeeded  in  making  ten  degrees  on  the 
parallel  of  49°  30'.  The  condition  on  board  was  getting 


THE   VABIOUS   EXPEDITIONS.  167 

much  worse.  Poor  water,  lack  of  bread  and  spirits,  the 
cold  and  wet,  vermin  and  anxiety,  undermined  the  last 
remnants  of  their  powers  of  resistance.  On  the  19th  the 
grenadier  Kisseloff,  on  the  20th  the  servant  Charitonoff, 
and  on  the  21st  the  soldier  Luka  Savjaloff,  died.  Even 
men  apparently  well  were  unable  to  stand  at  their  Dosts 
from  sheer  want  and  exhaustion. 

Then  the  water  supply  threatened  to  give  out.  They 
had  but  fifteen  casks  of  water,  a  part  of  which  was  very 
poor.  Waxel  was  again  thinking  of  searching  for  land 
toward  the  north,  when  a  strong  wind  carried  them  so  far 
westward  that  they  supposed  they  had  passed  all  traces  of 
American  regions.  They  then  determined  to  keep  their 
course  on  the  52°  of  latitude,  but  on  the  following  day,  to 
their  great  astonishment,  they  sighted  the  Aleutian  Isl- 
ands and  made  some  new  discoveries.  On  October  25,  at 
a  distance  of  8|  geographical  miles  toward  the  northwest, 
they  saw  a  high,  snow-capped  island,  which  they  called 
St.  Marcus.  By  an  observation  at  noon  its  latitude  was 
found  to  be  50°  50',  but  as  this  island  is  our  Amchitka, 
and  as  its  southern  extremity,  according  to  Admiral  Sary- 
cheff,  is  in  a  latitude  of  51°  35',  it  is  evident  that  the  St. 
Peter's  determinations  of  latitude  were  constantly  from 
one-half  to  three-fourths  of  a  degree  less  than  the  true 
latitude.  Later  this  fact  had  an  extremely  unfortunate 
effect  on  their  resolutions.  On  October  28,  Kiska,  which 
Bering  called  St.  Stephen,  was  discovered,  besides  three 
(in  reality  four)  smaller  islands  east  of  it,  and,  carried 
along  toward  the  north  by  a  southwesterly  wind,  they 
sighted,  on  the  morning  of  the  29th,  some  low  islands, 
which  are  supposed  to  have  been  the  present  Semichi 


168  VITUS   BERING. 

Islands,  situated  east  of  Attu.  These  islands,  which  to 
them  appeared  as  one,  were  called  St.  Abraham  Island. 
According  to  the  ship's  journal  they  were  seen  at  ten 
o'clock  in  the  morning  at  a  distance  of  six  miles  toward 
the  west,  and  at  noon  ten  miles  in  a  direction  W.  S.  W. 
It  is  evident  that  the  St.  Peter  sailed  north  of  these  isl- 
ands, but  as  the  latitude  on  that  day  was  determined  as 
52°  31',  at  least  45'  too  far  south,  and  as  the  ship  undoubt- 
edly on  the  29th  and  30th  of  October  passed  the  Blizhni 
group  (the  Nearer  Aleutians)  it  is  more  than  probable 
that  the  strait  between  the  most  westerly  of  the  Semichi 
Islands  and  Attu  was  seen  from  the  ship's  deck,  although 
the  officers  do  not  mention  this  island  in  the  journal,  but 
simply  indicate  it  on  the  chart.  It  is,  however,  referred 
to  by  both  Muller  and  Steller.  The  most  westerly  of  the 
Semichi  Islands  and  Attu  must  be  the  former's  Deception 
Islands.  Steller  applies  all  of  his  acuteness  of  mind  to 
show  that  they  were  the  first  two  Kuriles.  Nothing  shows 
better  than  this  assertion  how  confused  Steller  was; 
hence  his  unsparing  attacks  on  Waxel,  and  his  base 
insinuations,  are  not  of  the  least  moment.  "Betrayed 
and  sold  by  two  unscrupulous  leaders/'  he  says,  "we 
sailed,  after  October  31,  in  a  northerly  direction  from  the 
51st  to  the  56th  parallel ! "  How  unreasonable  !  They 
were,  already  on  the  30th,  north  of  the  53d  parallel.  A 
sharp  southwest  wind  was  blowing,  several  deaths  were 
occurring  daily,  the  helmsmen  were  conducted  to  the 
wheel  by  companions  so  deathly  sick  that  they  could 
scarcely  walk,  the  ship's  rigging  and  sails  were  fast  giving 
way,  the  weather  was  raw  and  damp,  the  nights  dark  and 
long,  and  all  attempts  at  the  determination  of  latitude 


THE   VAKIOUS   EXPEDITIONS.  169 

and  longitude  had  about  ceased.  Under  these  circum- 
stances was  it  not  worthy  of  all  honor  that  Waxel  was  still 
able  to  hold  the  vessel  up  to  the  wind  at  all  and  approach 
the  Commander  Islands  from  Attu  ?  In  a  short  time  the 
wind  veered  to  the  east,  and  on  November  4  (Steller  has 
it  the  5th),  in  a  latitude  calculated  at  53°  30',  they  saw 
an  elevated  coast  in  the  west  at  a  distance  of  about  sixteen 
miles.  It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  joy  occasioned  by 
this  sight.  The  sick  and  half-dead  crawled  on  deck  to 
see  land  once  more,  and  all  thanked  God  for  their  merci- 
ful rescue.  Bering,  almost  completely  exhausted,  was 
greatly  revived,  and  all  thought  of  how  they  would  rest 
and  restore  their  health  and  vigor.  Hidden  brandy  casks 
were  brought  out,  in  order  that  by  the  Vodka's  assistance 
they  might  properly  celebrate  the  happy  return.  And  in 
the  first  moments  of  their  exultation  even  the  officers 
rejoiced  to  think  that  their  calculations  were  not  entirely 
wrong. 

All  were  agreed  that  they  were  off  the  mouth  of  Ava- 
cha  Bay,  and  in  the  precipitous  mountain  sides  of  Copper 
Island  they  eagerly  sought  for  the  promontories  which 
mark  the  entrance  to  that  bay.  The  channel  between 
Copper  Island  and  Bering  Island  was  hidden  to  their 
view,  hence  they  thought  they  had  reached  Kamchatka. 
When,  a  little  later,  they  saw  through  the  mist  the  most 
northerly  part  of  the  strait,  they  were  for  a  short  time  not 
indisposed  to  believe  that  they  were  near  their  home  har- 
bor. But  soon  an  intense  feeling  of  doubt  seized  them. 
According  to  the  ship's  reckoning,  they  were  yet  forty 
miles  from  Avacha.  An  observation  at  noon  informed 
them  they  were  at  least  one  degree  farther  north  than 


170  VITUS   BERING. 

this  place,  and  before  evening  came  on,  the  coast-lines 
assumed  an  appearance  that  compelled  them  to  give  up 
all  thought  of  having  reached  home.  Bfct,  as  Bering 
on  his  first  voyage  had  not  found  land  for  several  days' 
sailing  east  of  the  mouth  of  the  Kamchatka  River,  they 
still  clung  to  the  belief  that  they  were  off  the  coast  of 
the  mainland.  During  the  night,  they  stood  to  the 
north  so  as  to  steer  clear  of  land,  as  they  feared  a 
storm.  With  great  difficulty  the  topsails  were  taken  in, 
but  the  feeble  crew  were  obliged  to  leave  the  other  sails. 
In  the  night  a  storm  from  the  east  rent  the  starboard 
shrouds  of  the  mainmast  so  that  it  could  no  longer 
carry  sail.  The  next  morning,  a  bright  and  magnificent 
November  day,  the  whole  crew  assembled  for  a  final 
consultation. 

All  that  could  walk  or  crawl,  officers  as  well  as  crew, 
dragged  themselves  into  the  chief's  cabin  to  hear  the 
result.  I  have  repeatedly  called  attention  to  the  fact 
that  Bering  did  not  have  the  sovereign  power  with  which 
the  chief  of  an  expedition  is  now-a-days  endowed.  The 
terrible  disease  that  had  overpowered  him  still  further 
lessened  his  influence ;  but  never  had  the  rules  and 
regulations  appeared  in  worse  light  than  on  this  occasion. 
Waxel  and  Khitroff,  who  had  resolved  to  make  a  landing, 
sought  both  before  and  during  the  meeting  to  induce  the 
crew  to  vote  for  this  resolution;  but  Bering  opposed  it 
and  put  forth  the  last  remnants  of  his  strength  and 
energy  to  rescue  the  expedition.  "We  have  still  the 
foremast,"  he  said,  "and  six  casks  of  water.  After 
having  endured  so  much  suffering  and  hardship,  we  must 
risk  everything  in  order  to  reach  Avacha."  Waxel  and 


THE  VARIOUS  EXPEDITIONS.  171 

Khitroff  immediately  endeavored  to  counteract  the  in- 
fluence of  this  good  advice,  but  the  subordinates  were  in 
doubt,  and  would  not  sign  any  resolution  except  on  the  con- 
dition that  the  officers  expressly  assured  them  of  the  fact 
that  the  adjacent  coast  was  Kamchatka.  This  Khitroff 
finally  took  upon  himself  to  do,  and  so  partly  through 
compulsion  and  partly  through  persuasion  the  lieutenants 
succeeded  in  securing  a  majority  for  their  proposition. 
But  even  yet  Bering  sought  to  save  his  convictions,  and 
appealed  to  the  reduced  Lieutenant  Ofzyn,  who  had  had 
charge  of  the  explorations  from  the  Obi  to  the  Yenesei 
and  was  now  serving  as  a  sailor  on  board  the  St.  Peter; 
but  as  he  immediately  expressed  his  agreement  with 
Bering,  he  was  in  most  abusive  language  driven  from 
the  cabin.  Under  these  circumstances  Steller  found  it 
useless  to  support  Bering.  He  confined  himself  to  cer- 
tifying to  the  very  great  enervation  of  the  crew.  Before 
the  council  adjourned,  it  was  resolved  to  make  for  the 
coast,  where  the  lieutenants,  in  an  open  bay,  expected  to 
find  a  harbor. 

Before  an  easy  northeast  breeze,  the  St.  Peter  drifted 
toward  the  coast,  without  helmsman  or  commander.  The 
chief  lay  at  death's  door  in  his  cabin,  Waxel  and  Khitroff 
were  seeking  rest  and  quiet,  and  not  until  the  ship  lay 
about  four  miles  from  land  did  Steller  induce  Bering  to 
order  them  on  deck.  They  soon  began  to  sound,  and 
one  verst  from  shore  they  cast  anchor.  Night  came  on 
with  bright  moonlight.  The  ebb-tide  receded  over  the 
rocky  beach,  producing  heavy  breakers.  In  these  the 
ship  was  tossed  about  like  a  ball,  until  finally  the  cable 
snapped.  They  now  expected  to  be  dashed  against  the 


172  VITUS  BERING. 

rocks  at  any  moment.  The  confusion  became  indescrib- 
able. In  order  not  to  have  a  corpse  on  board,  the  dead 
bodies  of  two  of  their  companions  were  thrown  over- 
board. It  had  been  the  intention  to  take  them  ashore  for 
burial.  At  this  juncture  the  second  anchor  was  lost; 
but  at  the  last  moment,  just  as  the  third  was  on  the 
point  of  being  cast,  Ofzyn  succeeded  in  establishing  order 
and  keeping  the  anchor  on  board.  The  vessel  glided 
safely  across  the  reefs,  and  in  a  few  moments  the  boat- 
swain and  Ofzyn  were  able  to  anchor  in  a  sheltered  place. 
The  St.  Peter  was  safe  for  the  time  being.  In  this  still 
and  bright  November  night  (the  night  of  Nov.  6,  1741) 
the  ship  was  riding  at  anchor  off  the  center  of  the  north- 
east coast  of  Bering  Island,  scarcely  600  yards  from 
shore.  Thus  ended  this  frightful  adventure.  Very 
fortunately,  the  ship  had  happened  to  strike  the  only 
navigable  channel  on  the  east  that  leads  to  the  coast  of 
the  island. 

It  yet  remains  to  determine  with  more  exactness  the 
place  of  stranding.  On  this  point  literature  offers  no 
reliable  information.  I  am  aware  that  Steller  says  that 
the  vessel  stranded  on  the  northern  coast  of  the  island, 
but  this  is  not  to  be  taken  literally.  After  the  St.  Peter 
had  passed  the  northern  point  of  Copper  Island,  which 
lies  parallel  with  the  trend  of  Bering  Island,  it  was  car- 
ried west  and  southwest  by  a  northeasterly  wind,  and 
hence  would  strike  the  coast  of  Bering  Island  off,  or  a 
few  minutes  north  of,  the  northern  extremity  of  Copper 
Island.  At  this  point  the  eastern  coast  of  Bering  Island 
recedes  to  the  west  and  forms  that  bay  which  the  officers 
saw  ahead.  From  this  it  is  evident  that  the  place  where 


THE   VARIOUS   EXPEDITIONS.  173 

the  vessel  ran  ashore  was  four  or  five  miles  north  of  the 
present  Cape  Khitroff.  In  WaxeFs  journal  the  geograph- 
ical position  is  entered  as  55°  5'  north  latitude,  but  Fr. 
Ltitke  gives  it  as  latitude  54°  58'  and  longitude  193°  23' 
west  from  Greenwich.  On  his  large  map  of  a  part  of 
the  Aleutian  Islands,  with  Eussian  and  French  text,  he 
marks  the  place  of  landing  at  this  point  with  these  words: 
"  C'est  pres  de  cet  endroit  que  le  commandeur  Bering  a 
fait  naufrage"*  (i.  e.,  in  the  vicinity  of  this  place  Bering 
stranded).  This  place  is  at  about  the  center  of  the 
eastern  coast  of  the  island,  which  extends  at  least  28' 
farther  north  to  Cape  Waxel,  and  hence  only  from  a 
local  point  of  view,  just  as  it  must  have  seemed  to  Steller 
as  the  vessel  approached  land,  can  this  receding  part  of 
the  coast  be  designated  as  the  northern  side  of  the 
island.  The  view  here  set  forth  is  further  corroborated 
by  many  places  in  Steller's  diary,  and  by  other  accounts 
of  the  stay  on  the  island,  f 

*  Map  III.,  Appendix. 

t  My  view  has  been  most  strongly  confirmed  by  the  excellent  Norwegian 
naturalist,  Dr.  Leonhard  Stejneger,  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  Wash- 
ington, who  in  the  years  1882-'84  passed  eighteen  mouths  on  Bering  Island 
and  circumnavigated  it.  In  Deutsche  Geographische  Blatter,  1885,  he  de- 
scribes his  trip  and  gives  a  good  contour  map  of  the  island,  as  well  as 
of  Bering's  stranding-place,  which  in  honor  of  him  is  still  called  "  Koman- 
dor,"  and  is  situated  in  the  place  described  above,  on  the  northeastern 
coast  of  the  island.—  Author's  Note  to  American  Edition. 

For  Dr.  Stejneger's  final  remarks  on  this  point  the  reader  is  referred  to 
Note  64,  in  the  Appendix,  where  will  be  found  a  letter  to  the  translator. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE  STAY  ON  BERING  ISLAND. — FAUNA  OF  THE  ISLAND. — 
A  RICH  FIELD  FOR  STELLEK. — HIS  DESCRIPTIONS  IM- 
MORTALIZE THE  EXPEDITION. — THE  SEA-COW. — ITS  EX- 
TERMINATION.— NORDENSKJOLD  REFUTED. — PREPARA- 
TIONS FOR  WINTERING. — SAD  DEATH  OF  BERING. — AN 
ESTIMATE  OF  HIS  WORK.: — CHIRIKOFF'S  RETURN. — THE 
CREW  OF  THE  ST.  PETER  LEAVE  THE  ISLAND. — THE 
GREAT  NORTHERN  EXPEDITION  DISCONTINUED. — BER- 
ING'S REPORTS  BURIED  IN  RUSSIAN  ARCHIVES. — BER- 
ING HONORED  BY  COOK. 

rriHE  island  upon  whose  shores  Bering,  after  a  voyage 
-*-  of  four  months,  was  cast,  was  a  high,  rocky,  and 
uninviting  country.  The  snowless  mountains  of  Plu- 
tonic rock,  wild  and  jagged,  arose  perpendicularly  out 
of  the  sea,  and  deep  ravines  with  seething  mountain 
streams  led  into  the  treeless  interior.*  There  was  snow 
on  only  the  highest  peaks,  and  on  this  cold  November 
night  the  coast  appeared  to  the  shipwrecked  unfortu- 
nates in  all  its  naked  and  gloomy  solitude,  and  hence 

*Dr.  Stejneger,  to  whom  the  translator  is  indebted  for  various  notes 
and  corrections  of  scientific  interest,  says:  "The  mountains  which  Steller 
and  his  companions  saw  were  not  eruptive  rocks.  The  whole  island  con- 
sists of  a  more  or  less  coarsely  grained  sandstone  or  conglomerate, —  Plu- 
tonic rock  cropping  out  only  in  isolated  spots.  The  mountain  streams  of 
Bering  Island  are  anything  but  '  seething ' ;  on  the  contrary,  they  are  as  a 
rule  very  quiet." 

174 


THE   VARIOUS   EXPEDITIONS.  175 

great  was  their  surprise  on  landing  to  find  the  island 
teeming  with  animal  life,  yet  undisturbed  by  human 
habitation.  The  Commander  Islands,  as  the  group  is 
now  called,  consist  of  two  large  islands  and  a  few  rocky 
islets.  The  most  easterly  of  the  former  is  Copper  Island 
(Mednie),  about  thirty-five  miles  long  and  three  miles 
wide,  covered  with  high,  steep,  and  jagged  mountains, 
which  lie  athwart  the  main  trend  of  the  island,  S.  E. 
to  N.  W.,  and  terminate  precipitously,  often  perpen- 
dicularly, with  a  narrow  strand  at  the  base  scarcely 
fifty  feet  wide.  On  a  somewhat  larger  scale,  the  same 
description  applies  to  Bering  Island,  .which,  according 
to  Steller,  is  23£  geographical  miles  long  and  nearly  3£ 
wide.  It  is  situated  about  30  geographical  miles  from 
Kamchatka,  between  latitude  54°  40'  and  55°  25'  north, 
and  longitude  165°  40'  and  166°  40'  east  of  Greenwich. 
Only  on  the  west  coast,  within  the  shelter  of  the  Sea 
Lion  Island  (Arii  Kamen)  and  a  lesser  islet,  is  there  a 
fairly  good  harbor,  where  the  Kussians  later  founded 
the  only  colony  of  the  island,  consisting  of  a  few  Aleuts 
who  cultivate  some  vegetables,  but  maintain  themselves 
principally  by  hunting  and  fishing.  For  this  purpose 
they  have  built,  here  and  there  on  the  east  coast,  some 
earth-huts  which  are  used  only  temporarily.  The  very 
high  mountains,  having  a  trend  from  N.  W.  to  S.  E.,  almost 
everywhere  extend  clear  to  the  sea,  and  only  here  and 
there  along  the  mouths  of  the  brooks  do  semicircular 
coves  recede  from  700  to  1300  yards  into  the  interior. 
In  Bering's  day  these  coves  or  rookeries  contained  a 
fauna  entirely  unmolested  by  human  greed  and  love  of 
chase,  developed  according  to  nature's  own  laws,  for 


176  VITUS   BEBLNG. 

which  reason  great  scientific  interest  attaches  to  the 
stranding  of  the  St.  Peter.  Of  this  animal  life  Steller 
gives  us  in  his  various  works  descriptions  which  are  unex- 
celled in  power  and  fidelity.  These  have  made  Bering's 
second  voyage  immortal.  Naturalists  will  again  and  again 
turn  to  them.  For  this  reason  it  would  seem  that  Steller 
had  no  ground  for  complaint  that  Bering  had  taken  him 
from  his  real  field  of  investigation  :  Kamchatka — a  com- 
plaint made  in  our  day  by  0.  Peschel — for  on  Bering 
Island  he  first  found  that  field  of  labor  and  that  material, 
the  description  of  which  has  immortalized  his  name.* 

With  the  exception  of  the  Arctic  fox,  the  higher 
fauna  of  these  islands  were  found  exclusively  among 

*Dr.  Stejneger,  ever  on  the  alert  to  honor  Steller,  says  in  Deutsche  Geo- 
graphische  Blatter,  1885:  "It  was  due  to  Steller  that  not  only  a  majority  of 
the  participants  survived,  but  that  the  expedition  won  a  lasting  name  in 
the  history  of  science.  Bering  left  his  name  to  the  island  upon  which  he 
died,  and  the  group  to  which  it  belongs,  Komandorski  (Commander  Islands), 
was  named  after  his  rank.  Moreover,  Bering  Sea,  Bering  Strait,  a  peninsula 
in  Asia,  and  a  bay  in  America  have  been  named  in  honor  of  him.  But  what 
is  there  in  these  regions  to  remind  one  of  the  immortal  Steller,  the  Herod- 
otus of  these  distant  lands  ?  Search  the  map  of  the  island  of  which  he  has 
given  such  a  spirited  description.  His  name  is  nowhere  to  be  found,  while 
three  capes  have  received  the  names  of  Bering's  lieutenants  and  helmsmen, 
who  were  the  authors  of  the  whole  misfortune :  Waxel,  Khitroff,  and  Jushin. 
The  man  that  rescued  and  immortalized  the  expedition  has  fallen  into 
oblivion.  I  consider  it  an  honor  that  it  has  been  granted  to  me  to  render 
long  deferred  justice  to  this  great  German  investigator.  The  highest  moun- 
tain peak  on  Bering's  Island  will  henceforth  be  called  Mount  Steller." 

In  speaking  of  a  description  by  Steller  of  some  rock  formations  on  the 
western  coast  that  resembled  ancient  ruins,  Dr.  S.  says  in  the  same  article: 
"I  landed  at  the  only  remaining  one  of  these  arches,  under  which  Steller 
had  probably  walked.  It  is  a  fine  specimen  of  a  natural  triumphal  arch, 
standing  quite  by  itself.  In  honor  of  Steller  I  called  it  Steller's  Triumphal 
Arch.  No  monument  marks  his  resting-place  on  the  desert  steppes  of  Sibe- 
ria; Russia  has  never  forgiven  him  for  his  ingenuous  criticism  of  the  injus- 
tice of  her  courts;  but  Steller's  name  will  nevertheless  live.  His  Triumphal 
Arch,  gaily  decked  with  the  variegated  lichens  Caloplaca  murorum  and 
crenulata,  and  adorned  with  the  lovely  white  golden-eyed  blossoms  of  the 
Chrysanthemum  arcticum,  is  a  monument  that  does  fitting  honor  to  the  great 
naturalist."— TB. 


THE   VARIOUS   EXPEDITIONS. 


177 


STELLER'S  TRIUMPHAL  ARCH. 

the  sea  mammals.  The  most  important  furred  animal 
at  that  time  was  the  sea-otter  (Erihydra  lutris,  Linn.), 
which  lived  in  families  on  the  coast  during  the  whole 
year,  especially,  however,  in  the  winter.  Its  velvety  fur 
brought  about  100  rubles  on  the  Chinese  border,  and 
hence  this  animal  later  became  the  object  of  a  most  eager 
search.  Nordenskjold  says  these  otters  have  been  driven 
away,  not  only  from  Bering  Island,  but  also  from  other 
grounds,  where  formerly  they  were  slaughtered  by  the 
thousand.  This  statement,  however,  is  not  entirely  cor- 
rect. The  sea-otter  may  still  be  found  on  Bering  Island, 


178  VITUS   BERING. 

and  on  the  adjacent  Copper  Island  (Mednie)  it  is  fre- 
quently found,  and  is  protected  by  just  such  laws  as  Nor- 
denskjold  demands  for  its  preservation. 

The  greatest  number  of  marine  animals  here  were 
found  to  belong  to  the  family  of  eared  seals  ( Otariidce) ; 
namely,  the  sea-lion  (Eumetopias  Stelleri),  from  which 
oil  is  obtained,  and  the  fur-seal  (Callorhinus  ursinus), 
which  is  still  the  world's  most  important  fur-bearing  ani- 
mal. Since  the  close  of  the  last  century,  the  Russian  gov- 
ernment has  with  great  care  sought  to  protect  this  animal, 
and  has  built  up  a  national  enterprise  which  yields  a  large 
annual  income,  and  which  makes  it  possible  for  the  Russo- 
American  company  which  has  a  lease  of  the  business,  to 
kill  annually  about  30,000  seals  and  still  increase  the  stock. 
On  this  point,  too,  Nordenskj  old's  statements  are  unreli- 
able and  misleading.  He  puts  the  annual  catch  much  too 
high,  which,  at  the  time,  caused  no  slight  trouble  between 
the  Russian  government  and  the  company.* 

On  the  whole,  it  seems  humiliating  to  West  Europe 
that  it  is  only  decried  and  tyrannical  Russia  that  has 
understood  how  to  protect  this  useful  animal.  When 
Russian  America,  the  present  Alaska,  in  1867  was  sold 
to  the  United  States,  some  of  the  best  seal  fisheries,  the 
Pribyloff  Islands,  were  a  part  of  the  purchase.  The 
United  States  has  found  it  profitable  to  retain  the  Rus- 
sian regulations  for  seal  hunting,  for  those  small  islands 
alone  yield  the  interest  on  the  sum  paid  for  the  whole 
territory. 

*Dr.  Stejneger,  In  "Contributions  to  the  History  of  the  Commander 
Islands,"  published  in  Proceedings  of  U.  S.  Nat.  Museum,  1882,  p.  86,  calls 
attention  to  Professor  Nordenskjold's  erroneous  statement,  and  gives  the 
exact  figures.— TR, 


THE   VARIOUS   EXPEDITIONS.  179 

The  eared  seals  put  in  their  appearance  on  the  Com- 
mander Islands  in  the  spring,  and  are  found  in  the  rook- 
eries by  the  hundreds  of  thousands  until  August  or  Sep- 
tember. They  proved  of  the  greatest  importance  for  the 
support  of  the  shipwrecked  expedition,  and  after  the  sea- 
otter  for  a  circuit  of  many  miles  had  been  driven  away, 
they  furnished  a  part  of  the  crew's  daily  means  of 
sustenance, 

But  the  most  interesting  animal  on  Bering  Island 
was  the  sea-cow  (Rhytina  Stelleri),*  a  very  large  and 
ponderous  animal  from  eight  to  ten  meters  long  and 
weighing  about  three  tons.  It  was  related  to  the 
dugong  and  lamantine  of  the  southern  seas,  and  the 
manatus  which  occurs  in  Florida  and  along  the  Gulf 
coast.  Its  habitat  seems  to  have  been  confined  to  the 
shores  of  the  Commander  Islands,  where  it  was  found 
in  great  numbers.  Its  flesh  was  very  excellent  food. 
Later  it  was  eagerly  sought  after  by  the  Siberian 
hunter,  whose  rapacity  exterminated  the  whole  species 
in  less  than  a  generation.  The  last  specimen  is  said 
to  have  been  killed  in  1768,  and  hence  museums  have 
been  very  unsuccessful  in  procuring  skeletons  of  the 
animal.  In  his  "Voyage  of  the  Vega/'  Nordenskjold 
attempts  to  show  that  sea-cows  were  seen  much  later, 
even  as  late  as  1854 ;  but  as  he  bases  his  assumption 
chiefly  on  the  statements  of  some  Aleutian  natives, 
who,  according  to  what  Dr.  Leonhard  Stejneger  re- 
cently has  proved,  confounded  the  sea-cow  with  a 
toothed  whale  (denticete),  there  seems  to  be  no  reason 

*The  correct  name  of  this  animal,  Dr.  Stejneger  informs  me,  Is 
Bhytina  gigas.—TR, 


180  VITUS   BERING. 

whatever  for  modifying  the  results  arrived  at  by  Baer, 
Brandt,  and  Middendorff.* 

Without  this  animal  wealth  it  would  have  gone 
with  Bering's  expedition  as  it  did  later  with  the  un- 
fortunate La  Perouse,  whose  monument  has  found  a 
place  in  Petropavlovsk  by  the  side  of  Bering's.  It 
would  have  been  hopelessly  lost  on  Bering  Island. 
None  of  the  participants  would  have  seen  Asia  again, 
none  would  even  have  survived  the  winter  1741-42, 
for  when  the  St.  Peter  stranded,  there  were  on  board 
only  a  few  barrels  of  junk,  a  small  quantity  of  groats, 
and  some  flour.  The  flour  had  been  lying  in  leathern 
sacks  for  two  years,  and  in  the  stranding  had  been 
saturated  with  turbid  sea  water,  and  hence  was  very 
unfit  for  food.  How  fatal,  therefore,  Waxel's  and 
Khitroff's  opposition  to  Bering  might  have  been. 

It  was  the  night  between  the  5th  and  6th  of  No- 
vember that  the  St.  Peter  reached  this  coast.  On  the 
6th  the  weather  was  calm  and  clear,  but  the  crew 
were  kept  on  board  from  weakness  and  work,  and 
only  Steller  and  Pleniser  could  go  ashore  with  a  few 
of  the  sick.  They  immediately  betook  themselves  to 
examining  the  country,  and  walked  along  the  coast 
on  either  side.  Was  this  an  island,  or  was  it  the 
mainland  ?  Could  they  expect  to  find  human  assist- 
ance, and  could  they  reach  home  by  land  ?  After  two 
days  of  exploration,  Steller  succeeded  in  satisfying 

*Dr.  Stejneger  says,  after  a  very  careful  and  exhaustive  discussion 
of  this  question:  "It  may  thus  be  regarded  as  fairly  proved  that  the 
unknown  cetacean,  which  in  1846  was  observed  near  the  southern  end  of 
Bering  Island,  was  a  female  narwhal.  But,  whatever  it  may  have  been, 
one  thing  is  absolutely  sure:  it  was  not  a  sea-cow!"  For  references  see  Note 
66.— TB. 


THE   VARIOUS   EXPEDITION'S.  181 

himself  on  these  points,  although  it  was  nearly  six 
months  before  he  definitely  ascertained  that  the  place 
was  an  island.  Unlike  Kamchatka,  the  country  was 
treeless,  having  only  a  few  trailing  willows  of  the 
thickness  of  a  finger.  The  animals  of  the  coast  were 
entirely  new  and  strange,  even  to  him,  and  showed 
no  fear  whatever.  They  had  no  sooner  left  the  ship, 
when  they  saw  sea-otters,  which  they  first  supposed 
to  be  bears  or  gluttons.  Arctic  foxes  flocked  about 
them  in  such  numbers  that  they  could  strike  down 
three  or  four  score  of  them  in  a  couple  of  hours. 
The  most  valuable  fur-bearing  animals  stared  at  them 
curiously,  and  along  the  coast  Steller  saw  with  won- 
derment whole  herds  of  sea-cows  grazing  on  the  luxu- 
riant algae  of  the  strand.  Not  only  he  had  never  seen 
this  animal  before,  but  even  his  Kamchatkan  Cossack 
did  not  know  it.  From  this  fact,  Steller  concluded 
that  the  island  must  be  uninhabited.  As  the  trend 
of  Kamchatka  was  not  the  same  as  that  of  the  island, 
and  as  the  flora  was  nevertheless  identical,  and  as  he 
moreover  found  a  window  frame  of  Kussian  workman- 
ship that  had  been  washed  ashore,  he  was  convinced 
that  the  country  must  be  a  hitherto  unknown  island 
in  the  vicinity  of  Kamchatka. 

Bering  shared  this  view,  but  the  other  officers  still 
clung  to  their  illusions,  and  when  Waxel,  on  the  even- 
ing of  the  6th,  came  ashore,  he  even  spoke  of  send- 
ing a  message  for  conveyance.  Steller,  on  the  other 
hand,  began  to  make  preparations  for  the  winter.  In 
the  sand-banks,  near  an  adjacent  mountain  stream,  he 
and  his  companions  dug  a  pit  and  made  a  roof  of 


182  VITUS  BERING. 

driftwood  and  articles  of  clothing.  To  cover  up  cracks 
and  crevices  on  the  sides,  they  piled  up  the  foxes  they 
had  killed.  He  exerted  himself  to  obtain  wild  fowl, 
seal-beef,  and  vegetable  nourishment  for  the  sick,  who 
were  gradually  taken  ashore  and  placed  under  sail 
tents  upon  the  beach.  Their  condition  was  terrible. 
Some  died  on  deck  as  soon  as  they  were  removed  from 
the  close  air  of  their  berths,  others  in  the  boat  as 
they  were  being  taken  ashore,  and  still  others  on  the 
coast  itself.  All  attempts  at  discipline  were  aban- 
doned, and  those  that  were  well  grouped  themselves 
into  small  companies,  according  to  their  own  pleasure 
and  agreement.  The  sick  and  dying  were  seen  on 
every  hand.  Some  complained  of  the  cold,  others  of 
hunger  and  thirst,  and  the  majority  of  them  were  so 
afflicted  with  scurvy  that  their  gums,  like  a  dark 
brown  sponge,  grew  over  and  entirely  covered  the  teeth. 
The  dead,  before  they  could  be  buried,  were  devoured 
by  foxes,  which  in  countless  numbers  flocked  about, 
not  even  fearing  to  attack  the  sick. 

More  than  a  week  elapsed  before  the  last  of  the 
sick  were  taken  ashore.  On  November  10,  the  Com- 
mander was  removed.  He  was  well  protected  against 
the  influence  of  the  outer  air,  and  was  laid  for  the 
night  under  a  tent  on  the  strand.  It  snowed  heavily. 
Steller  passed  the  evening  with  him  and  marveled  at 
his  cheerfulness  and  his  singular  contentment.  They 
weighed  the  situation,  and  discussed  the  probability  of 
their  whereabouts.  Bering  was  no  more  inclined  than 
Steller  to  think  that  they  had  reached  Kamchatka,  or 
that  their  ship  could  be  saved.  The  next  day  he  was 


THE   VARIOUS   EXPEDITIONS.  183 

carried  on  a  stretcher  to  the  sand  pits  and  placed  in 
one  of  the  huts  by  the  side  of  Steller's.  The  few 
that  were  able  to  work  sought  to  construct  huts  for 
all.  Driftwood  was  collected,  pits  were  dug  and  roofed, 
and  provisions  were  brought  from  the  ship.  Steller 
was  both  cook  and  physician  —  the  soul  of  the  enter- 
prise. On  November  13,  the  barrack  to  be  used  as 
a  hospital  was  completed,  and  thither  the  sick  were 
immediately  removed.  But  still  the  misery  kept  in- 
creasing. Steller  had  already  given  up  all  hopes  of 
Bering's  recovery.  Waxel,  who  had  been  able  to  keep 
up  as  long  as  they  were  on  the  sea,  now  hovered 
between  life  and  death.  There  was  special  anxiety 
on  account  of  his  low  condition,  as  he  was  the  only 
competent  seaman  that  still  had  any  influence,  since 
Khitroff,  by  his  hot  and  impetuous  temper,  had  in- 
curred the  hatred  of  all.  Moreover,  those  sent  to 
reconnoiter,  returned  with  the  news  that  in  a  westerly 
direction  they  could  find  no  connection  with  Kam- 
chatka or  discover  the  slightest  trace  of  human  habi- 
tation. It  became  stormy;  for  several  days  the  boat 
could  not  venture  out,  and  the  ship,  their  only  hope, 
lay  very  much  exposed  near  a  rocky  shore.  The 
anchor  was  not  a  very  good  one,  and  there  was  great 
danger  that  the  vessel  would  be  driven  out  to  sea, 
or  be  dashed  to  pieces  on  the  rocks.  The  ten  or 
twelve  able-bodied  men  that  were  left,  being  obliged 
to  stand  in  icy  water  half  a  day  at  a  time,  soon  gave 
way  under  such  burdens.  Sickness  and  want  were 
on  every  hand.  Despair  stared  them  in  the  face,  and 
not  until  November  25,  when  the  vessel  was  driven 


184  VITUS   BERING. 

clear  ashore  and  its  keel  buried  deep  in  the  sand,  did 
their  condition  seem  more  secure.  They  then  went 
quietly  to  work  to  prepare  for  the  winter. 

In  December  the  whole  crew  was  lodged  in  five  under- 
ground huts  (dug-outs)  on  the  bank  of  the  stream  near 
the  place  of  landing.*  The  ship's  provisions  were  divided 
in  such  a  way  that  every  man  daily  received  a  pound  of 
flour  and  some  groats,  until  the  supply  was  exhausted. 
But  they  had  to  depend  principally  upon  the  chase,  and 
subsisted  almost  exclusively  upon  the  above  mentioned 
marine  animals  and  a  stranded  whale.  Each  hut  consti- 
tuted a  family  with  its  own  economical  affairs,  and  daily 

*  These  pits  or  earth  huts  lay  in  a  direction  from  north  to  south.  Next 
to  Steller's  hut  was  the  miserable  pit  in  which  Vitus  Bering,  a  hundred 
and  forty-eight  years  ago,  drew  his  last  breath.  August  30,  1882,  Dr.  Stej- 
neger  visited  this  place,  of  which  he  gives  the  following  description  in 
Deutsche  Geographische  Blatter,  1885,  pp.  265-6 :  "  I  was  first  attracted  to  the 
ruins  of  the  huts  in  which  the  shipwrecked  crew  passed  a  winter  a  hun- 
dred and  forty-one  years  previous.  On  a  projecting  edge  of  the  western 
slope  of  the  mountain,  in  the  northern  corner  of  the  valley,  stands  a  large 
Greek  cross.  Tradition  says  that  Bering  was  buried  there.  The  present 
cross  is  of  recent  date.  The  old  one,  erected  by  the  Russian  Company, 
was  shattered  by  a  storm,  but  the  stump  may  still  be  seen.  No  one  thought 
of  erecting  a  new  one,  until  Hr.  von  Grebnitski  attended  to  the  matter. 
Directly  southeast  of  the  cross,  close  to  the  edge  of  a  steep  declivity, 
about  twenty  feet  high,  lie  the  fairly  well  preserved  ruins  of  the  house. 
The  walls  are  of  peat,  about  three  feet  high  and  three  feet  thick.  They 
were  covered  with  a  very  luxuriant  growth  of  grass,  and,  moreover,  swarms 
of  mosquitoes  helped  make  investigation  very  unpleasant  work.  *  *  * 
The  floor  was  covered  with  a  thick  turf,  the  removal  of  which  was  out  of 
the  question.  I  probed  the  whole  surface  with  a  bayonet,  but  nothing  of 
significance  was  found.  *  *  *  A  part  of  the  crew  were  undoubtedly 
lodged  in  the  sandpits  under  the  barrow,  of  which  Steller  speaks.  And  in 
fact  traces  of  the  pits  still  exist,  although  they  no  longer  have  any  defi- 
nite form,  being,  moreover,  so  overgrown  with  vegetation  that  nothing 
could  be  ascertained  from  them.  Some  Arctic  foxes  had  burrowed  there. 
At  our  approach  the  whole  brood  came  out,  and  in  close  proximity  stood 
curiously  gazing  at  us.  Steller  and  his  companions  are  gone,  but  the 
Arctic  fox,  which  played  them  so  many  tricks,  is  still  there.  The  pits, 
now  merely  an  irregular  heap  of  sand  filled  with  burrows,  lie  close  to  the 
brook,  where  it  curves  sharply  toward  the  west,  cutting  into  the  declivity 
on  which  the  house  stands." — Author's  Note  to  American  Edition. 


THE  VARIOUS  EXPEDITIONS.  185 

sent  out  one  party  to  hunt  and  another  to  carry  wood 
from  the  strand.  In  this  way  they  succeeded  in  struggling 
through  the  winter,  which  on  Bering  Island  is  more  char- 
acterized by  raging  snowstorms  (poorgas)  than  severe  cold. 

Meanwhile,  death  made  sad  havoc  among  them.  Before 
they  reached  Bering  Island,  their  dead  numbered  twelve, 
the  majority  of  whom  died  during  the  last  days  of  the 
voyage.  During  the  landing  and  immediately  afterwards 
nine  more  were  carried  away.  The  next  death  did  not 
occur  until  November  22.  It  was  the  excellent  and 
worthy  mate,  the  seventy-year-old  Andreas  Hesselberg, 
who  had  plowed  the  sea  for  fifty  years,  and  whose  advice, 
had  it  been  heeded,  would  have  saved  the  expedition. 
Then  came  no  less  than  six  deaths  in  rapid  succession ; 
and  finally  in  December  the  Commander  and  another 
officer  died.  The  last  death  occurred  January  6,  1742. 
In  all,  thirty-one  men  out  of  seventy-seven  died  on  this 
ill-starred  expedition. 

When  Bering  exerted  his  last  powers  to  prevent  the 
stranding  of  the  St.  Peter,  he  struggled  for  life.  Before 
leaving  Okhotsk  he  had  contracted  a  malignant  ague, 
which  diminished  his  powers  of  resistance,  and  on  the 
voyage  to  America  scurvy  was  added  to  this.  His  sixty 
years  of  age,  his  heavy  build,  the  trials  and  tribulations 
he  had  experienced,  his  subdued  courage,  and  his  disposi- 
tion to  quiet  and  inactivity,  all  tended  to  aggravate  this 
disease ;  but  he  would  nevertheless,  says  Steller,  without 
doubt  have  recovered  if  he  had  gotten  back  to  Avacha, 
where  he  could  have  obtained  proper  nourishment  and 
enjoyed  the  comfort  of  a  warm  room.  In  a  sandpit  on 
the  coast  of  Bering  Island,  his  condition  was  hopeless. 


186  VITUS  BERING. 

For  blubber,  the  only  medicine  at  hand,  he  had  an  un- 
conquerable loathing.  Nor  were  the  frightful  sufferings 
he  saw  about  him,  his  chagrin  caused  by  the  fate  of  the 
expedition,  and  his  anxiety  for  the  future  of  his  men,  at 
all  calculated  to  check  his  disease.  From  hunger,  cold, 
and  grief  he  slowly  pined  away.  "He  was,  so  to  speak, 
buried  alive.  The  sand  kept  continually  rolling  down 
upon  him  from  the  sides  of  the  pit  and  covered  his  feet. 
At  first  this  was  removed,  but  finally  he  asked  that  it 
might  remain,  as  it  furnished  him  with  a  little  of  the 
warmth  he  so  sorely  needed.  Soon  half  of  his  body 
was  under  the  sand,  so  that  after  his  death,  his  com- 
rades had  to  exhume  him  to  give  him  a  decent  burial." 
He  died  on  the  8th*  of  December,  1741,  two  hours  before 
daybreak,  from  inflammation  of  the  bowels. 

"Sad  as  his  death  was,"  says  Steller,  "that  intre- 
pidity and  seriousness  with  which  he  prepared  to  meet 
death  was  most  worthy  of  admiration."  He  thanked 
God  for  having  been  his  guide  from  youth,  and  for 
having  given  him  success  through  life.  He  sought  in 
every  way  possible  to  encourage  his  companions  in  mis- 
fortune to  hopeful  activity,  and  inspire  them  with  faith 
in  Providence  and  the  future.  Notwithstanding  his  con- 
viction that  they  had  been  cast  upon  the  shores  of  an 
unknown  land,  he  was  not  disposed  to  discourage  the 
others  by  expressing  himself  on  this  point.  On  the  9th 
of  December  his  body  was  interred  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  huts,  between  the  graves  of  the  second  mate  and 
the  steward.  At  the  departure  from  the  island  there 
was  placed  upon  his  grave  a  plain  wooden  cross,  which 

*  Old  Style. 


THE  VARIOUS  EXPEDITIONS.  187 

also  served  to  show  that  the  island  belonged  to  the 
Eussian  crown.  This  cross  was  renewed  several  times, 
and  in  the  sixties,  so  far  as  is  known,  twenty-four  men 
erected  a  monument  to  his  honor  in  the  governor's  garden 
(the  old  churchyard)  in  Petropavlovsk,  where  a  monu- 
ment to  the  unfortunate  La  Perouse  is  also  found,  and 
where  Cook's  successor,  Captain  Clerke,  found  his  last 
resting  place. 

With  Bering  that  mental  power,  which  had  been  the 
life  of  these  great  geographical  expeditions  and  driven 
them  forward  toward  their  goal,  was  gone.  We  have  seen 
how  his  plans  were  conceived ;  how  through  long  and 
dreary  years  he  struggled  in  Siberia  to  combine  and  exe- 
cute plans  and  purposes  which  only  under  the  greatest 
difficulties  could"  be  combined  and  executed ;  how  by  his 
quiet  and  persistent  activity  he  endeavored  to  bridge  the 
chasm  between  means  and  measures,  between  ability  to 
do  and  a  will  to  do, — a  condition  typical  of  the  Russian 
society  of  that  time.  We  have  seen  how  he  surmounted 
the  obstacles  presented  by  a  far-off  and  unwilling  gov- 
ernment, a  severe  climate,  poor  assistants,  and  an  inexpe- 
rienced force  of  men.  We  have  accompanied  him  on  his 
last  expedition,  which  seems  like  the  closing  scene  of  a 
tragedy,  and  like  this  ends  with  the  death  of  the  hero. 

He  was  torn  away  in  the  midst  of  his  activity. 
Through  his  enterprise  a  great  continent  was  scientifically 
explored,  a  vast  Arctic  coast,  the  longest  in  the  world, 
was  charted,  a  new  route  to  the  western  world  was  found, 
and  the  way  paved  for  Eussian  civilization  beyond  the 
Pacific,  while  enormous  sources  of  wealth  —  a  Siberian 
Eldorado — were  opened  on  the  Aleutian  Islands  for  the 


188  VITUS   BERING. 

fur-hunter  and  adventurer.  Kussian  authors  have  com- 
pared Bering  with  Columbus  and  Cook.  He  certainly 
was  for  Kussia,  the  land  of  his  adoption,  what  the  two 
former  were  for  Spain  and  England — a  great  discoverer, 
an  honest,  hardy,  and  indefatigable  pioneer  for  knowl- 
edge, science,  and  commerce.  He  led  Europe's  young- 
est marine  out  upon  explorations  that  will  ever  stand 
in  history  as  glorious  pages,  and  as  living  testimony 
of  what  Northern  perseverance  is  able  to  accomplish 
even  with  most  humble  means. 

And  yet  he  only  partly  succeeded  in  accomplishing 
what  for  sixteen  years  had  been  the  object  of  his  en- 
deavors. .His  voyage  to  America  was  merely  a  recon- 
noitering  expedition,  which,  in  the  following  summer, 
was  to  have  been  repeated  with  better  equipments. 

Chirikoff,  who  on  the  expedition  in  1741,  about 
simultaneously  with  Bering,*  discovered  a  more  southerly 

•Bancroft,  who,  strange  to  say,  calls  Chirikoff  "the  hero  of  this  expedi- 
tion," gives  a  detailed  account  of  the  voyage  of  the  St.  Paul  after  its  separa- 
tion from  the  St.  Peter.  Lauridsen  does  not  do  this,  for  the  obvious  reason 
that  he  considers  Chirikoff's  expedition  of  but  comparatively  little  import- 
ance, although  he  doubtless  would' be  willing  to  second  Bancroft's  estimate 
of  Chirikoff  as  a  man  "who,  amongst  Russians,  was  the  noblest  and  most 
chivalrous  of  them  all."  There  seems  to  be  no  reason  to  doubt  that 
Chirikoff  sighted  the  coast  of  Northwest  America  about  thirty-six  hours 
before  Bering  did.  On  the  llth  of  July  signs  of  land  were  seen,  and  on  the 
15th  land  was  sighted  in  latitude  55°  21',  according  to  Bancroft,  who,  at  this 
point  in  his  narrative,  exclaims:  "Thus  was  the  great  discovery  achieved." 
Chirikoff's  return  voyage  was  fraught  with  hardships  and  suffering.  Before 
the  expedition  reached  Avacha  Bay,  October  8,  twenty-one  were  lost.  The 
pilot  Yelagin  alone  of  all  the  officers  could  appear  011  deck,  and  he  finally 
brought  the  ship  into  the  harbor  of  Petropavlovsk.  Croyere,  the  astronomer, 
died  as  soon  as  he  was  exposed  to  the  air  on  deck.  Chirikoff,  very  ill,  was 
landed  the  same  day.  Eventful  as  the  expedition  in  some  respects  was,  it 
nevertheless  possesses  no  particular  geographical  or  scientific  interest,  for 
there  is  great  doubt  even  as  to  where  landings  were  made  and  what  islands 
were  seen.  Bancroft  speaks  very  cautiously  on  these  points.  Sokoloff,  how- 
ever, declares  emphatically  that  the  laud  first  discovered  by  Chirikoff  was  a 


THE   VARIO.US  EXPEDITIONS.  180 

part  of  the  North  American  coast,  returned  to  Avacha 
in  such  an  impaired  condition  that,  in  1742,  he  could 
undertake  no  enterprise  of  importance.*  On  account  of 
the  great  misfortunes  that  overwhelmed  the  expedition, 
Laptjef  was  prevented  from  completing  the  charting  of 
Kamchatka.  Thus  we  see  that  on  every  side  of  Bering's 
grave  lay  unfinished  tasks.  These  tasks  were  inherited 
from  the  Dano-Russian  explorer  by  his  great  successor 
Cook,  and  other  younger  navigators.  Moreover,  his 
death  occurred  at  an  extremely  fatal  period;  for  in  these 
same  dark  December  days  while  Bering  was  struggling 
with  death  in  the  sandpits  of  Bering  Island,  Biron, 
Miinnich,  and  Ostermann  lost .  their  supremacy  in  St. 
Petersburg.  The  Old  Eussian  party,  the  opponents  of 
Peter  the  Great's  efforts  at  reform,  came  into  power, 

slight  projection  of  the  coast  between  Capes  Addington  and  Bartholomew  of 
Vancouver's  map.  Moreover,  the  lands  in  these  regions  received  no  names 
from  the  St.  Paul,  whereas  the  St.  Peter  forged,  along  the  islands  of  the 
North  Pacific,  a  chain  of  names,  many  of  which  are  still  the  permanent  pos- 
session of  geography.  When  it  is  furthermore  remembered  that  Chirikoff 
was  one  of  Bering's  assistants,  that  the  fitting  out  of  the  expedition  was 
under  the  charge  of  Bering,  and  that  upon  him  rested  all  responsibility  to  the 
government,  it  is  certainly  impossible  for  any  fair-minded  person  to  accept 
the  statement  that  Chirikoff  "must  ever  be  regarded  as  the  hero  of  this 
expedition."  Bancroft  does  not,  however,  approve  of  SokoloflTs  vainglo- 
rious expressions  concerning  "  the  achievements  of  Chirikoff,  a  true  Rus- 
sian, as  against  Bering  the  Dane."  Principally  in  the  one  fact  of  a  few 
hours'  priority  of  discovery,  Solokoff  finds  proof  of  "the  superiority  of  the 
Russians  in  scientific  navigation ! "  Bancroft  occasionally  reminds  the 
reader  that  "Russian  historians  are  perhaps  a  little  inclined  to  magnify  the 
faults  of  Bering  the  Dane,"  and  in  this  instance  administers  to  Sokoloff  the 
following  reproof:  "So  the  learner  is  often  apt  to  grow  bold  and  impudent 
and  despise  the  teacher.  The  great  Peter  was  not  above  learning  navigation 
from  Bering  the  Dane."  In  speaking  of  Bering's  death,  Bancroft  further 
retrieves  himself— indeed,  seems  quite  to  supersede  his  former  opinion  — 
by  saying:  "Thus  passed  from  earth,  as  nameless  tens  of  thousands  have 
done,  the  illustrious  commander  of  the  expeditions  which  had  disclosed  the 
separation  of  the  two  worlds  and  discovered  north-westernmost  America." 
See  History  of  Alaska,  p.  68  et  seq.—Ta. 
*  Note  66. 


190  VITUS   BERING. 

and  during  Elizabeth's  inert  administration,  all  modern 
enterprises,  the  Northern  Expedition  among  them,  were 
allowed  to  die  a  natural  death.  At  Avacha  and  Ok- 
hotsk affairs  wore  a  sorrowful  aspect.  The  forces  of 
the  expedition  had  been  decimated  by  sickness  and  death, 
their  supplies  were  nearly  exhausted,  their  rigging  and 
sails  destroyed  by  wind  and  weather,  the  vessels  more 
or  less  unseaworthy,  and  East  Siberia  drained  and  de- 
vastated by  famine;  only  Bering's  great  powers  of  perse- 
verance could  have  collected  the  vanishing  forces  for  a 
last  endeavor.  On  September  23,  1743,  an  imperial 
decree  put  an  end  to  any  further  undertakings.  Mean- 
while, the  crew  of  the  St.  Peter  had,  in  August,  1742, 
returned  to  Avacha  in  a  boat  made  from  the  timber  of 
the  stranded  vessel.  Chirikoff  had  previously  departed 
for  Okhotsk,  to  which  place  also  Spangberg  returned 
from  his  third  voyage  to  Japan.  Gradually  the  forces 
of  the  various  expeditions  gathered  in  Tomsk,  where, 
first  under  the  supervision  of  Spangberg  and  Chirikoff, 
and  later  that  of  Waxel  and  other  officers,  they  re- 
mained until  1745.  Thus  ended  the  Great  Northern 
Expedition. 

But  Bering's  ill  fate  pursued  him  even  after  death. 
During  the  reign  of  Empress  Elizabeth,  nothing  was 
done  to  make  known  the  results  of  these  great  and 
expensive  explorations,  nor  to  establish  the  reputation  of 
the  discoverers.  The  reports  of  Bering  and  his  co- 
workers,  which  make  whole  cartloads  of  manuscript, 
were  buried  in  the  archives  of  the  Admiralty.  Only 
now  and  then  did  a  meager,  and  usually  incorrect,  ac- 
count come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  world.  Some  of  the 


THE   VARIOUS   EXPEDITIONS.  191 

geographers  of  that  day  insisted  that  the  Russian  gov- 
ernment system  of  suppression  merely  aimed  at  exclud- 
ing the  rest  of  Europe  from  that  profitable  maritime 
trade  through  the  Arctic  seas  for  which  the  Northern 
Expedition  had  opened  the  way.  Ignorance  on  this  sub- 
ject was  so  great  that  Joseph  de  1'Isle  ventured  even 
before  the  French  Academy  to  refer  to  himself  as  the 
originator  of  the  expedition, — to  rob  Bering  of  his  dearly 
bought  honor,  and  to  proclaim  to  the  world  that  Bering 
accomplished  no  more  on  this  expedition  than  his  own 
shipwreck  and  death.  With  Buache  he  published  a  book 
and  a  map  to  prove  his  statements.  The  name  De  1'Isle 
at  that  time  carried  with  it  such  weight  that  he  might 
have  succeeded  in  deceiving  the  world  for  a  time,  if  G. 
F.  Miiller  had  not,  in  an  anonymous  pamphlet  written  in 
French,  disproved  these  falsehoods.  But  even  Miiller's 
sketch  in  Sammlung  Russischer  Geschichte  (1758),  the 
first  connected  account  published  concerning  these  expe- 
ditions, has  great  defects,  as  we  have  seen,  not  only  from 
the  standpoint  of  historical  accuracy,  but  it  also  shows  a 
lack  of  appreciation  of  the  geographical  results  obtained 
by  Bering.  Hence  it  would  have  been  impossible  for 
Cook  to  render  the  discoverer  long-deferred  justice,  if  he 
had  not  known  D'Anville's  map  and  Dr.  Campbell's  essay. 
Thus  it  was  West  Europe  that  last  century  rescued 
Bering's  name  from  oblivion.  In  our  day  the  Eussian 
Admiralty  has  had  this  vast  archival  material  examined 
and  partly  published,  but  much  must  yet  be  done  before 
a  detailed  account  can  be  given  of  the  enterprises  we  have 
attempted  to  sketch,  or  of  the  man  who  was  the  soul  of 
them  all.  We  hardly  feel  disposed,  with  Professor  Von 


192 


VITUS   BERING. 


Baer,  to  urge  the  erection  of  a  monument  in  St.  Peters- 
burg, as  a  restitution  for  long  forgetfulness,  former  mis- 
judgment,  and  lack  of  appreciation.  As  Russia's  first 
navigator  and  first  great  discoverer,  he  certainly  has  mer- 
ited such  a  distinction.  We  shall,  however,  consider  our 
task  accomplished,  if  we  have  succeeded  in  giving  in 
these  pages  a  reliable  account  of  the  life  and  character  of 
a  man  who  deserves  to  be  remembered,  not  only  by  that 
nation  which  must  ever  count  Vitus  Bering  among  her 
good  and  faithful  sons,  but  also  by  the  country  that  har- 
vested the  fruits  of  his  labors. 


BERING'S  MONUMENT  IN  PETROPAVLOVSK. 
(FROM  WHTKPKB.) 


APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX. 

BERING'S  REPORT  TO  THE  ADMIRALTY  FROM  OKHOTSK, 
DEC.  5,  1737.* 


the  instructions  forwarded  to  me  by  His 
Imperial  Highness,  I  learn  that  the  Imperial  Col- 
lege of  Admiralty  is  inclined  to  the  opinion  that  the 
expedition  is  lingering  along  idly  on  account  of  my 
heedlessness.  This  arouses  in  me  no  little  anxiety 
for  fear  that  I  may  incur  undeserved  wrath;  yet  in  this 
matter  I  await  the  will  of  his  Imperial  Highness  and 
the  most  gracious  resolution  of  the  Imperial  College. 
For  although,  from  the  time  the  expedition  was  put 
in  my  charge  until  the  present  time,  I  have  faithfully 
and  diligently  sought  as  quickly  as  possible  to  build 
vessels,  put  out  to  sea,  and  begin  the  execution  of 
my  work  proper,  everything  has  suffered  delay  on 
account  of  unexpected  obstacles  over  which  I  have 
had  no  control.  Prior  to  our  arrival  in  Yakutsk,  not 
a  single  pood  of  provisions  had  been  sent  to  Okhotsk 
for  the  crew  there,  not  a  single  vessel  had  been  built 
for  transporting  these  provisions  and  supplies,  and 
not  a  single  magazine  had  been  built  at  the  stopping 
places  on  the  Maya  and  Yudoma  rivers.  No  laborers 
were  to  be  had,  and  no  arrangements  whatsoever  had 

*  Abridged  from  the  Russian. 
185 


196  VITUS    BERING. 

been  made  by  the  Siberian  government  officials,  not- 
withstanding the  fact  that  an  imperial  ukase  had 
ordered  these  things.  We  have  done  all  this.  We 
built  transports,  demanded  laborers  from  Yakutsk,  and 
with  great  difficulty  brought  our  provisions  in  these 
transports  to  Yudomskaya  Krest,  —  yes,  with  super- 
human efforts  our  command  and  these  laborers  —  since 
even  upon  my  demand  but  very  few  were  sent  —  also 
brought  the  supplies  at  Yudomskaya  Krest  (12,000 
poods  of  flour  and  rice)  to  Okhotsk.  Moreover,  at  the 
stopping  place  on  the  Maya,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Yudoma,  at  the  Cross,  and  on  the  Urak,  we  erected 
magazines  and  dwellings  for  the  forces,  and  also  built 
four  winter-huts  between  Yudomskaya  Krest  and  Urak 
as  places  of  refuge  during  the  winter.  Furthermore, 
in  accordance  with  our  plans,  we  built,  in  1736,  at 
the  stopping  place  on  the  Urak,  fifteen,  and  during 
this  year,  1737,  sixty-five  vessels  on  which  to  float 
the  provisions  down  the  Urak.  Of  these,  forty-two 
are  still  at  the  place  of  construction,  the  remaining 
thirty-seven  having  departed  with  provisions  in  1735. 
All  of  this  has  been  done  under  my  orders,  not  by 
the  government  officials  of  Siberia. 

In  Yakutsk,  where  I  was  at  that  time  staying,  we 
built  two  vessels,  the  boat  Irkutsk  and  the  sloop 
Yakutsk,  and  in  1735  sent  them  out  on  the  expedi- 
tions assigned  to  them.  We  took  pains  to  provision 
them  well,  and  furthermore  sent  four  barges  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Lena  with  additional  provisions  for 
them.  In  1736  the  Yakutsk  had  the  misfortune  to 
lose  its  chief,  Lieut.  Lassenius,  and  many  of  the 


APPENDIX.  197 

crew.  Others  were  hopelessly  ill,  and  hence,  as  I 
feared  that  the  work  assigned  to  this  expedition  would 
not  be  accomplished,  I  was  obliged  to  man  the  vessel 
anew  from  Yakutsk.  The  sick  were  taken  to  Yakutsk 
to  be  nursed.  I  did  all  that  was  possible  for  them, 
and  by  the  help  of  God  they  were  saved.  For  these 
same  two  ships  I  sent,  in  1736,  from  the  provisions 
of  my  command,  two  lighters  with  provisions,  and 
during  the  present  year,  1737,  I  have  likewise  sent  a 
boat  to  the  mouth  of  the  Lena,  as  .the  provisions  sent 
in  1735  were  nearly  exhausted.  But  from  the  voivode 
in  Yakutsk  we  received  'no  support  whatever.  From 
this  it  is  evident  that  my  stay  in  Yakutsk  was  neces- 
sarily prolonged.  Nor  was  it  possible  for  me  to  go  to 
Okhotsk  with  my  men  until  I  had  sent  some  provis- 
ions ahead.  Otherwise  I  should  have  taken  the  risk 
of  starving  them  to  death,  putting  an  end  to  all 
hopes  of  accomplishing  anything,  and  thus  incurring 
a  heavy  responsibility.  Some  of  my  men  remained 
in  Yakutsk  in  charge  of  the  affairs  of  the  expedition 
there,  and  to  forward  provisions.  Others  remained  at 
the  Maya  harbor,  Yudomskaya  Krest,  and  at  the  TJrak 
landing,  to  guard  the  magazines  and  attend  to  the 
transportation  of  necessaries  to  Okhotsk,  for  it  is  not 
yet  possible  to  feed  so  many  at  Okhotsk.  The  fact 
that  the  voivode  in  Yakutsk  made  such  long  delay 
in  appointing  commissioners  to  receive  and  send  me 
supplies,  prevented  me  from  keeping  my  men  together 
and  availing  myself  of  their  assistance.  As  early  as 
June  2,  1735,  I  demanded  the  appointment  of  three 
commissioners  and  such  assistants  as  I  thought  neces- 


198  VITU8   BERING. 

sary,  to  be  stationed  along  the  route.  The  authorities 
at  Yakutsk  did  not  comply  until  the  present  year, 
1737,  and  then  only  after  repeated  demands  on  my 
part.  But  if  I  had  neglected  to  attend  to  these  mat- 
ters, and  had  hastened  the  departure  to  Okhotsk,  the 
voivode  —  in  my  absence  —  would  have  done  nothing, 
and  it  remains  to  be  seen  how  the  transportation  to 
Yudomskaya  Krest  will  be  attended  to.  *  *  *  As 
the  difficulties  with  which  we  have  had  to  contend  are 
very  obvious,  and  although  as  a  consequence  the  imme- 
diate starting  out  of  the  expedition  is  improbable,  I 
can,  nevertheless,  conscientiously  say  that  I  do  not 
see  how  I  could  have  in  a  greater  degree  hastened  the 
work  of  the  expedition,  or  how  I  could  have  intensi- 
fied the  zeal  with  which  I  have  worked  from  the  very 
beginning.  Through  this  report  I  therefore  most  hum- 
bly seek  at  the  hands  of  the  Admiralty  a  considerate 
judgment,  and  hope  that  it  will  show  that  matters 
have  not  been  delayed  through  my  carelessness. 

It  is  on  account  of  these  obstacles,  together  with 
the  fact  that  there  was  much  work  to  be  done  in 
Okhotsk,  that  I  have  been  unable  to  prepare,  in  a 
short  time,  the  ships  necessary  for  the  voyage.  My 
command  has  had  to  work  at  Spangberg's  ships,  which 
are  now  ready.  But  also  in  Okhotsk,  on  the  "Cat" 
(Koschka),  where  these  vessels  and  packet-boats  are 
being  built,  everything  was  bare  and  desolate.  There 
was  not  a  building  there, —  nowhere  to  stay.  Trees 
and  grass  do  not  grow  there,  and  are  not  found  in 
the  vicinity  on  account  of  the  gravel.  In  spite  of 
the  fact  that  the  region  is  so  barren,  it  is  nevertheless 


APPENDIX.  199 

very  well  suited  for  ship-building.  It  is  a  good  place  for 
launching,  for  starting  out,  and  as  a  harbor  of  refuge 
for  these  ships.  There  is,  in  fact,  no  better  place  on 
this  coast.  Hence,  according  to  Spangberg's  direc- 
tions, a  house  was  built  on  the  "Cat"  for  the  officers, 
and  barracks  and  huts  for  the  men.  For  these  build- 
ings our  men  hauled  the  clay,  made  the  tiles,  brought 
wood  from  a  distance  of  three  to  four  miles,  and  car- 
ried fresh  water  from  a  distance  of  about  two  miles ; 
for  although  the  Koschka  is  situated  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Okhota,  the  water  in  the  river  is  very  salt  on 
account  of  the  tide-water.  Moreover,  we  have  built 
store-houses  and  a  powder  magazine.  I  enclose  three 
diagrams,  showing  what  has  been  done  in  the  years 
1735,  1736,  and  1737.  My  men  in  Okhotsk  are  now 
preparing  ship-biscuits  for  the  voyages,  and  are  floating 
the  necessary  timber  for  the  boats  twenty  miles  down 
the  river.  They  burn  the  charcoal  used  in  forging,  and 
the  necessary  pitch  must  be  prepared  and  brought  from 
Kamchatka,  as  there  is  no  pitch-pine  in  the  vicinity 
of  Okhotsk. 

In  addition  to  this  we  are  obliged  to  make  our  own 
dog-sledges,  and  on  these  bring  our  provisions  from 
Yudomskaya  Krest  to  the  Urak  landing.  There  is, 
too,  much  other  work  in  Okhotsk  that  must  be  done  in 
preference  to  ship-building,  for  it  is  quite  impossible 
to  get  anything  in  the  way  of  food  except  the  legal 
military  provisions,  consisting  of  flour  and  groats.  I 
must  state,  in  this  connection,  that  in  the  summer  some 
cattle  are  sent  with  the  transports  from  Yakutsk. 
These  are  obtained  at  the  regular  wice  and  are  dis- 


200  VITUS  BERIffG. 

tributed  among  the  crews;  but  on  account  of  the 
great  distance,  and  the  reluctance  of  the  Yakuts  to 
sell  to  others  than  the  yassak  collectors,  except  when 
in  great  need,  the  supply  has  been  limited. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  authorities  at  Ok- 
hotsk were  directed  to  prepare  fish  for  the  expedition,  I 
found  that  nothing  whatever  had  been  done  in  this 
regard;  but,  on  the  contrary,  they  monopolized  the  sup- 
plies of  the  Tunguses,  who  furnished  my  first  expedition 
with  an  abundance  of  fish,  and  upon  whom  I  had  de- 
pended. For  this  reason  we  are  forced  to  give  the  men 
leave  of  absence  in  the  summer,  so  that  they  may  obtain 
food  by  fishing,  thus  causing  a  loss  of  time  and  neglect 
of  the  work  of  the  expedition.  Our  force  might  be 
divided  into  different  parties,  for  shipbuilding,  fishing, 
and  miscellaneous  work,  but  we  have  not  found  it  expedi- 
ent to  do  this.  Especially  on  account  of  the  fact  that 
many  have  been  assigned  to  the  work  of  transportation, 
there  are  not  as  many  engaged  in  shipbuilding  as  neces- 
sary, or  as  was  ordered  by  the  Imperial  College  of  Admir- 
alty. Lack  of  sufficient  provisions  has  prevented  this. 
Here  in  Okhotsk  we  have  but  a  small  number  of  laborers. 
The  rest,  for  whom  there  will  be  no  provisions  until  in  the 
spring,  we  have  sent  to  Yudomskaya  Krest  to  bring  pro- 
visions and  other  necessary  supplies  on  dog-sledges  to  the 
Urak  landing,  and  to  construct  at  this  place  twenty  new 
barges  for  use  in  the  spring  of  1738.  New  barges  must  be 
built  every  year,  for  those  that  are  floated  down  the  Urak 
can  not  be  returned  on  account  of  the  swiftness  of  the 
current.  They  are,  however,  used  for  other  purposes  in 
Okhotsk.  It  takes  four  men  ten  days  to  build  a  barge, 


APPENDIX.  201 

and  four  or  five  to  man  one.  I  most  respectfully  ask  the 
Imperial  College  of  Admiralty  to  consider  the  number  of 
men  employed  at  this  work,  and  what  they  are  accom- 
plishing. All  of  this,  too,  is  being  done  by  my  forces. 
From  the  government  officer  in  Okhotsk,  Skornjakoff- 
Pissarjeff,  we  have  not,  since  the  day  of  our  arrival  here 
up  to  the  present  time,  received  the  slightest  assistance 
in  transportation,  shipbuilding,  or  anything  else  what- 
soever. Nor  have  we  any  hope  of  obtaining  any  such 
assistance  in  the  future.  And  even  if  we  should  demand 
support  from  him,  we  would  only  have  long  and  fruitless 
negotiations  with  him,  for  while  in  Yakutsk,  he  sent  me 
a  written  notification  (February  28,  1737),  refusing  to 
assist  in  the  transportation  from  Yudomskaya  Krest  to 
Okhotsk. 

In  addition  to  the  facts  here  adduced,  together  with 
my  earlier  reports  to  the  Imperial  College  of  Admiralty, 
wherein  I  have  given  an  account  of  my  efforts  for  the 
progress  of  the  enterprise  and  shown  the  impossibility  of 
an  early  consummation  of  the  main  object  of  my  expedi- 
tion, I  appeal  to  the  testimony  of  all  the  officers  of  my 
command.  All  of  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 

BERING,  Commander. 


NOTES. 


1.  List  of  Russian  Naval  Officers.    St.  Petersburg,  1882.— V. 
Berch:   The  First  Russian  Admirals. — Scheltema:  Rusland  en  de 
Nederlanden,   III.,  p.   287. — L.   Daae:     Normcend    og   Danske  i 
Rusland. 

As  Berch  hints  that  Bering  had  many  enemies  in  the  Depart- 
ment of  the  Marine,  I  have  made  inquiries  on  this  point.  Admiral 
Th.  Wessalgo  informs  me  that  Berch's  account  is  entirely  without 
foundation.  Bering  demanded  and  got  his  discharge  in  1724, 
because  he  was  dissatisfied  with  the  regulations  governing  pro- 
motions. 

2.  Sammlung  Russ.  GeschicMe,  III.,  p.  50. — P.  AvriPs  Accounts 
of  America,  collected  in  Smolensk,  1686. — Vaugondie:  Memoires, 
p.  4.    Les  geographes  des  16'  et  17'  siecles  ont  toujours  pense  que  la 
mer  separait  VAsie  de  VAmerique. 

See  also  a  very  interesting  essay  on  the  first  Russian  accounts  of 
America:  The  Great  Land,  Bolshaia  Zemlia,  in  the  Memoirs  of  the 
Department  of  Hydrography  (ZapisM),  Vol.  IX.,  p.  78. 

The  name  Anian  Strait  has  arisen  through  a  misunderstanding  of 
Marco  Polo's  book  (lib.  III.,  cap.  5).  His  Ania  is  no  doubt  the 
present  Anam,  but  the  Dutch  cartographers  thought  that  this  land 
was  in  Northeast  Asia,  and  called  the  strait  that  was  said  to  separate 
the  continents  the  Strait  of  Anian.  The  name  appears  for  the  first 
time  on  Gerh.  Mercator's  famous  maritime  chart  of  1569. 

Dr.  Soph.  Ruge:  FretumAniam,  Dresden,  1873,  p.  13. 

3.  G.  F.  Miitler,  in  Schreiben   eines  Russ.    Officiers   von   der 
Flotte,  p.  14,  seeks  to  take  to  himself  all  the  honor  for  our  knowledge 
of  Deshneff's  journey,   but  this  is  not  tenable.     See  Beitrdge  zur 
Kenntniss  des  russischen  Reiches,  XVI.,  44.     Bering  did  not  collect 
his  information  concerning  Deshneff  in  Kamchatka,  but  in  Yakutsk, 
and  referred  Mttller  to  this  matter. 

202 


NOTES.  203 

A.  Strindberg:  P.  J.  v.  Strahlenberg,  in  the  Swedish  Society  for 
Anthropology  and  Geography,  1879,  No.  6. 

4.  V.  Berch :  The  First  Voyage  of  the  Russians,  pp.  2-5. 

5.  Bering's  report  to  the  Admiralty,  in  The  First  Voyage  of  the 
Russians,  p.  14,  together  with  his  original  account  in  Description 
geographique,  historique  de  I 'empire  de  la  Chine.    Par  le  Pere  J. 
B.  Du  Halde.     La  Hague,  1736,  IV.,  562. 

6.  G.  W.  Steller:  Beschreibung  v.  dem  Lande  Kamtschatka. 
Frankfurt,  1774. 

Krasheninikoff :  The  History  of  Kamtschatka.    Glocester,  1764. 

7.  A  species  of  bears-foot,  SpJiondylium  foliolis  pinnatifides. 
Cleff. 

8.  Bering's  fear  of  the  Chukchees  may  seem  in  our  day  to  put 
him  in  a  bad  light;  but  they  who  are  familiar  with  the  history  of 
this  people  know  that  at  the  time  of  Bering  they  were  very  warlike. 
Both  Schestakoff  and  Pavlutski  fell  in  combat  with  them.    Neue 
nordische  Beitrage,  I.,  245. 

J.  Bulitsheff :  Reise  in  Ostsibirien.    Leipzig,  1858,  p.  83. 

9.  The  ship's  journal,  kept  by  Lieut.  P.  Chaplin,  is  the  basis  of 
this  presentation.     The  first  Voyage  of  the  Russians,  pp.  31-65. 
Von  Baer  has  used  it  to  some  extent,  but  no  other  West  European 
author. 

In  Bering  Strait  there  are  two  Diomede  islands.  The  boundary 
line  between  Russia  and  North  America  passes  between  them.  The 
Russian  island  is  called  Ratmanoff  or  Imaklit,  the  American  Kru- 
senstern  or  Ingalisek.  See  W.  H.  Ball:  Alaska,  Boston,  1870,  p.  249. 

10.  That  Bering  himself  was  the  author,  would  seem  to  be  shown 
by  the  fact  that  Weber  who  knew  and  associated  with  Bering,  uses 
verbatim  the  same  expressions  concerning  the  first  expedition.    See 
Weber:  Das  veranderte  Russland,  III.,  157. 

11.  Cook  and  King:  Voyage  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  III.,  244. — 
The  only  place  where  I  have  found  any  testimony  to  show  that 
America  was  seen  from  the  Gabriel  is  a  chart  by  J.  N.  De  1'Isle : 
"  Carte  Generate  des  Decouvertes  de  F  Admiral  de  Fonte,"  Paris, 
1752,  on  which  chart,  opposite  the  Bering  peninsula,  a  coast  line  is 
represented  with  the  words:  "  Terres  vues  par  M.   Spangberg  en 


204  VITtJS  BERING. 

172S,  frequences  d  present  par  les  Blisses,  qui  en  apportenl  de  tres 
belles  fourrures." 

12.   The  Academy's  map,  1737.— Mtiller's  map,  1758. 

18.  See  A.  Th.  v.  Middendorff :  Reise  in  den  Aeussersten  Norden 
und  Osten  Sibiriens.,  IV.,  56. 

Concerning  Bering's  determinations  of  longitude  and  latitude,  O. 
Peschel  says :  Auf  der  ganzen  Erde  gibt  es  vielleicht  keine  wich- 
tigere  Ortsbestimrming ,  als  die  von  Petropaulovski,  insofern  von  ihr 
die  mathematisclien  Langen  in  der  Beringsstrasse  abhdngen,  welche 
die  Erdveste  in  zwei  grosse  Inseln  trennt.  Mil  lebhafter  Freude 
gewahrt  man,  dass  schon  der  Entdecker  Bering  auf  seiner  ersten 
Fahrt  trotz  der  Unvollkommenheit  seiner  Jnstrumente  die  Langen 
von  Okhotsk,  die  Sudspitze  Kamchatkas  und  die  Ostspitze  Asiens, 
bis  auf  Bruchtheile  eines  Grades  richtig  bestimmte." — Geschichte 
der  Erdkunde,  pp.  655-56. 

A  list  of  Bering's  determinations  is  found  in  Harris's  Collection 
of  Voyages,  II.,  1021,  London,  1748. 

About  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  there  was  a  violent 
attack  on  Bering's  determinations.  Samuel  Engel,  Vaugondie,  and 
Bushing  tried  to  show  that  according  to  these  Asia  had  been  put  too 
far  east.  S.  Engel :  Remarques  sur  la  partie  de  la  relation  du  voy- 
age du  Capt.  Cook  qui  concerne  le  detroit  entre  VAsie  et  VAmerique. 
Berne,  1781. — M.  D.  Vaugondie:  Memoire  sur  les  pays  de  VAsie, 
etc.,  Paris,  1774. — Bushing's  Magazine,  VIII.,  IX. 

14.  Cook  and  King:  Voyage  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  III.,  473:  "In 
justice  to  the  memory  of  Bering,  I  must  say  that  he  has  delineated 
the  coast  very  well,  and  fixed  the  latitude  and  longitude  of  the 
points  better  than  could  be  expected  from  the  methods  he  had  to  go 
by.     This  judgment  is  not  formed  from  Mr.  Miiller's  account  of  the 
voyage  or  the  chart  prefixed  to  his  book,  but  from  Dr.  Campbell's 
account  of  it  in  his  edition  of  Harris's  Collection  and  a  map  thereto 
annexed,  which  is  both  more  circumstantial  and  accurate  than  that 
of  Mr.  Miiller."    The  chart  which  Cook  refers  to  is  a  copy  of 
Bering's  own  chart  as  given  by  D'Anville. 

Concerning  East  Cape,  Cook  says:  "  I  must  conclude,  as  Bering 
did  before  me,  that  this  is  the  most  eastern  point  of  Asia."  p.  470. 

15.  See  Steller's  various  works,  especially  the  introduction  to  the 
one  on  Kamchatka,  where  it  is  stated  that  Bering  returned  "  ohne 


NOTES.  205 

dock  das  geringste  entdeckt  zu  haben"     This  introduction  was 
written  by  J.  B.  S.  (Scherer). 

16.  In  Petermann's  Mittheilungen,  1879,  p.  163,  Dr.  Lindernann 
says  that  Bering  turned  back  "without  having  seen,  strange  to  say, 
either  the  Diomedes  or  the  American  coast. "    The  author's  authority 
is  evidently  W.  H.  Dall,  an  extremely  unfortunate  historian.    The 
latter  says:    "Bering,   naturally  timid,  hesitating,   and  indolent, 
determined  to  go  no  farther  for  fear  of  being  frozen  in,  and  returned 
through  the  Strait — strange  to  say — without  seeing  the  Diomedes  or 
the  American  coast."    See  Dall :  Alaska  and  its  Resources.    Boston, 
1870,  p.  297. 

17.  Geschichte  der  Entdeckungen  im  Norden,  p.  463. 

18.  C.  C.  Rafn:  Gronlands  historiske  Mindesmcerker.    Copen- 
hagen, 1838,  III. 

19.  Hazii:  Karten  von  dem  Russ.  Reiche,  Niirnberg,  1788. — 
T.  C.  Lotter  •  Carte  geogr.  de  Siberie,  Augsburg. 

20.  Harris's  Collection  of  Voyages,  II.,  1021,  Note  34. 

21.  V.  Berch:  The  First  Voyage  of  the  Russians. 

22.  Beitrage  zur  Kenntniss  des  Russ.  Reiches,  XVI. 

23.  The  name  appears  earlier  on  the  chart  which  accompanies 
Gmelin's  Reise  durch  Sibirien,  IV.,  1752,  and  in  Steller's  Reise  von 
Kamtscnatka  nach  Amerika.    But  both  of  these  authors  must  here 
be  considered  an  echo  of  Muller. 

24.  See  Mtiller's  own  review  of  the  Russians'  early  knowledge  of 
the  peninsula  in  Vol.  III.  of  Sammlung  Russ.  Geschichte.    Even  as 
late  as  1762  the  Cossacks  could  travel  among  the  Chukchees  only  in 
disguise. — Pallas:  N.  Nord.    Beitrage,  I.,  245. — During  Billings's 
expedition  hostilities  were  still  smoldering. — East  Cape  is  600  miles 
from  Anadyrskoi  Ostrog. 

25.  J.  D.  Cochrane  has,  in  Narrative  of  a  Pedestrian  Journey, 
London,  1825,  App.  p.  299,  attempted  to  establish  Pavlutski's  route, 
unsuccessfully,  however,  we  think.      On  the  whole,  accounts  and 
opinions  concerning  Pavlutski  are  so  uncertain,  that  it  is  impossible 
by  means  of  the  literature  on  this  point,  to  give  a  final  opinion.    See 
Fr.  Lutke:  Voyage  autour  du  monde,  II.,  238.  "  Sauer  dit  que  Pav- 
lovtsky  vint  jusqu  'au  detroit  de  Bering;  ce  qui,  au  reste,  n'est  pas 
en  lui  meme  vraisenable." 


206  VITUS   BERING. 

26.  Pallas:   N.  Nord.     Beitrage.     I.    Chart.— Martin  Sauer  : 
An  Account  of  Com.  Billings's  Geog.  and  Astr.  Expedition.    1785- 
94.    Chart. 

27.  M.  Sauer:    An  Account,  etc.,  p.  252,  Note.— Fr.   Lutke: 
Voyage  autour  du  monde,  II.,  238.     Note  and  chart:  Carte  de  la 
Baie  de  Set.  Croix.    Levee  par  les  emb.  de  la  Corvette  le  Seniavine, 
1828,  where  the  original  Serdze  Kamen  is  found  in  its  proper  place 
with  the  original  Chukchee  name,  Linglingay. 

28.  Steller:  Beschreibung  von  dem  Lande  Kamtschatka,  p.  15. 
Steller  sways  back  and  forth  between    Mtiller's    views    and    the 
account  that  he  himself  obtained  of  the  real  state  of  affairs.     He 
met  Miiller  in  West  Siberia  in  1739,  when  the  latter  was  filled 
with  his  supposed  epoch-making  discoveries  in  Yakutsk  archives. 
In  Reise  nach  Amerika,  p.  6,  Steller  says:  "So  verblieb  es  nichts 
desto  weniger  auf  Seiten  der  damals  gebrauchten  Officiere  bey  einer 
kurzen  Untersuchung  des  Landes  KamtscJiatka,  von  Lopatka  bis  zu 
dem  sogenannten  Serze  Kamen,  welche  bey  weitem  das   Tschuk- 
tschiske  Vorgebirge  noch  nicht  ist."    He  has  so  little  knowledge  of 
Bering's  work  that  he  can  immediately  go  on  to  say:  "  Gwosdew  ist 
viel  wetter  und  bis  66  Or  ad  Norderbreite  gekommen." 

29.  How  varying  the  views  on  this  subject  have  been  even  in 
the  narrowest  academical  circles  may  be  seen  from  the  following: 
In  a    German  edition  of    Atlas  Russicus,   1745,   Serdze   Kamen 
appears  as  a  mountain  in  the  center  of  the  Chukchee  peninsula. 
(By  Caique,  placed  at  my  disposal  by  A.  Thornam,  of  St.  Peters- 
burg.    In  the  French  edition  the  name  is  not  found  at  all.)    On  the 
maps  which  accompany  J.  E.  Fischer's  Sibirische  Geschichte,  1768, 
and  Gmelin's  work,  Serze  Kamen  and  Kammenoie  Serdze  are  found, 
but  in  different  places  of  Bering  Strait,  both  different  from  Muller's. 

30.  Cook  and  King:  Voyage,  etc.,  I.,  469:  "Thus  far  Bering 
proceeded  in  1728,  that  is,  to  this  head,  which  Miiller  says  is  called 
Serdze  Kamen  on  account  of  a  rock  upon  it  shaped  like  a  heart. 
But  I  conceive  that  Mr.  Muller's  knowledge  of  these  parts  is  very 
imperfect.     There  are  many  elevated  rocks  upon  this  cape,  and  pos- 
sibly some  one  or  other  of  them  may  have  the  shape  of  a  heart. 

"  At  four  in  the  morning  the  cape,  which,  on  the  authority  of 
Miiller,  we  have  called  Serdze  Kamen,  bore  S.  S.  West."  III.,  261. 

31.  Gvosdjeff's  Reise.     Note  121. 


NOTES.  207 

82.   Beitrage  zur  Kenntniss,  etc.,  XVI.,  44.   Note. 

33.  Philip  Johann  Tabbert,  ennobled  in  1707  and  called  Von 
Strahlenberg,  was  born  at  Stralsund  in  1676,  and  taken  captive 
after  the  battle  of  Pultowa  as  captain  in  the  army  of  Charles  XII. 
He  was  banished  to  Tobolsk,  traveled  some  years  with  Dr.  Mes- 
serschmidt  in  Siberia,  and  together  with  other  Swedish  officers  he 
made  several  maps  of  Siberia,  which,  without  his  knowledge  or  con- 
sent, were  published  in  Holland  by  Bentinck,  1726,  in  UHistoire  des 
Tartares,  etc.,  and  reprinted  in  various  works  such  as  La  Russie 
asiatique,  tiree  de  la  Carte  donnee  par  ordre  du  feu  Czar."    In 
1730,  Strahlenberg's  own  work  appeared  in  Leipsic;  it  is  marked  by 
its  minute  knowledge  of  details.     His  representation  of  the  Chuk- 
chees  peninsula  deserves  attention  as  evidence  of  the  knowledge  the 
Cossacks  had  of  this  region,  whereas  there  is  nothing  original  in  his 
representation  of  the  coast-lines  of  Eastern  Asia.     Baer  says  that 
Strahlenberg's  book  and  map  was  made  by  a  Leipsic  student,  and 
that  whatever  it  contains  that  is  of  value  is  taken  from  Messer- 
schmidt.     Beitrage,  XVI.,  126.     Note  18. 

34.  This  map  is  reproduced  in  Nordenskjold's  Voyage  of  the 
Vega. 

35.  Steller:  Reise  von  Kamtschatka,  etc.,  p.  6,  where  a  very 
erroneous  and  unreasonable  account  of  the  result  of  Bering's  first 
expedition  is  given. 

36.  Kiriloff's  map  is  found  in  Russici  imperil  Tab.  Qeneralis 
et  Specialis,  Vol.  XLIII. 

37.  Strangely  enough,  no  original  copy  seems  to  have  remained 
in  the  archives  of  the  Admiralty.     Berch  insists  that  no  such  copy 
exists.     I  investigated  the  matter  in  1883,  and  later  Mr.  A.  Thor- 
nam  has  examined  the  archives  for  this  purpose,  but  without  result. 

38.  Du  Halde  writes:  Ce  Capitaine  revint  a  Set.  Petersburg  le 
premier  jour  de  Mars  de  Vannee  1730,  et  apporta  une  relation  suc- 
cinte  de  son  voyage,  avec  la  Carte  qu'il  en  avoit  dressee.      Cette 
Carte  fut  envoy  ee  au  Serenissime  Roi  de  Pologne,  comme  une  pre- 
sent digne  de  son  attention  et  de  sa  curiosite,   et  Sa  Majestete  a 
bien  voulu  qu'elle  me  fut  communiquee  en  me  permettant  d'en  faire 
tel  usage  qu'il  me  plairot.    J'ai  cru  que  le  Public  me  scauroit  quel- 
que  gr&  de  V avoir  ajoutee  a  toutes  celles  queje  lui  avois  promises. 


208  VITCS   BERING. 

In  the  Swedish  geographical  journal,  "  Ymer,"  1884,  there  is  an 
interesting  account  by  E.  W.  Dahlgren  of  the  copies  of  Bering's 
chart  in  Sweden. 

89.   Gmelin:  Reiae  durch  Sibirien.    Introduction. 

40.  Bering's  proposition  was  formulated  as  follows:  (1)  As  the 
waves,  according  to  my  observation,  are  smaller  east  of  Kamchatka 
[than  in  the  open  ocean],  and,  moreover,  as  I  have  on  Karaginski 
Island  found  large  fir-trees  washed  ashore,  which  do  not  grow  in 
Kamchatka,  it  is  my  opinion  that  America  or  some  intervening  hind 
can  not  be  very  far  from  Kamchatka  (150-200  geographical  miles). 
In  case  this  is  so,  commercial  relations  with  that  country  that  would 
be  to  the  advantage  of  the  Russian  empire  could  be  established. 
This  matter  can  be  investigated,  if  a  vessel  is  built  of  from  45  to  50 
tons  burden.  (2)  This  vessel  ought  to  be  built  at  Kamchatka,  as  at 
this  place  more  available  timber  is  found  than  at  other  places  [on 
the  east  coast] ;  moreover,  provisions  for  the  crew,  fish  and  other 
animals  are  easily  obtained.  Besides,  greater  assistance  can  be 
obtained  from  the  Kamchadales  than  from  the  inhabitants  of 
Okhotsk.  (3)  It  would  not  be  without  advantage  to  find  out  the  sea- 
route  from  Okhotsk  or  Kamchatka  to  the  mouth  of  the  Amoor  and 
farther  on  to  the  Japan  Islands,  as  we  there  have  hopes  of  finding 
inhabited  regions.  It  would  be  well  to  establish  commercial  rela- 
tions with  them,  especially  with  the  Japanese,  which  promises  the 
Russian  empire  no  small  advantage  in  the  future.  For  this  purpose 
a  ship  of  the  same  size  or  a  little  smaller  than  the  first  might  be 
built.  (4)  The  expenses  of  this  expedition  in  addition  to  the  salaries 
and  the  materials,  which  could  not  be  secured  there,  but  would  have 
to  be  taken  along  from  here  or  Siberia,  would,  including  the  trans- 
port, amount  to  ten  or  twelve  thousand  rubles.  (5)  If  it  is  consid- 
ered advisable  to  chart  the  northern  coast  of  Siberia,  especially  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Obi  to  the  Yenisei  and  hence  to  the  Lena,  this  can 
be  done  by  sailing  down  these  rivers  or  by  expeditions  by  land,  as 

these  regions  are  under  Russian  rule. 

VITUS  BERING. 

April  30,  1730. 

These  propositions  were  first  published  by  Berch  in  "  The  First 
Russian  Admirals,"  and  later  reprinted  by  Sokoloff  in  Zapiski 
HydrograficJieskago  Departamenta  (Journal  of  Hydr.  Dept.),  St. 
Petersburg,  IX.,  Appendix. 


NOTES.  209 

41.  Part  II.  is  based  upon  the  works  of  Von  Baer,  Middendorff, 
and  Sokoloff. 

42.  General  List  of  Russian  Naval  Officers,  St.  Petersburg,  1882. 

43.  Zapiskl,  IX.,  250. — Beitrage  zur  Kenntniss,  etc.,  Introduc- 
tion.—Sokoloff:   "  Chirikoff's  Voyage  to  America,"  St.  Petersburg, 
1849. — Bering's  wife  was  suspected  of  having  acquired  goods  illeg- 
ally, but  there  is  no  proof  of  this.    When  she,  in  the  year  1738, 
returned  from  Siberia,    the  Senate,   influenced  by  the  numerous 
denunciations  of  her  conduct,  issued  an  ukase  that  her  goods  should 
be  examined.     At  the  inspection  on  the  borders  of  Siberia  it  was 
found  that  she  had  a  suspiciously  large  quantity  of  furs  and  other 
things.    She  rather  overawed  the  authorities,  however,  and  returned 
to  St.  Petersburg  unmolested.     Sokoloff  gives  no  information  as  to 
whether  the  furs  were  illegally  obtained  or  not.    She  was  very  much 
younger  than  Bering;  in  1744,  on  making  application  for  a  widow's 
pension,  she  gave  her  age  as  39  years. 

44.  The  author  is  indebted  to  Admiral  Th.  Wessalgo  for  the 
following  archival  accounts. 

The  Admiralty  to  Captain  Bering,  Feb.  26,  1736. 

Your  expedition  is  a  very  protracted  one,  and  apparently  it  is 
being  conducted  somewhat  carelessly  on  your  part,  which  is  shown 
by  the  fact  that  it  has  taken  nearly  two  years  to  reach  Yakutsk. 
Moreover,  it  appears  from  your  report  that  your  stay  in  Yakutsk  will 
be  too  long ;  in  fact,  there  seems  to  be  no  reason  to  hope  that  you 
will  succeed  in  getting  any  farther.  As  a  consequence  of  all  this 
the  Admiralty  is  extremely  dissatisfied  with  your  arrangements,  and 
will  not  let  matters  go  on  without  an  investigation.  If  in  the  future 
any  negligence  whatever  occurs,  an  investigation  will  be  instituted 
against  you  for  insubordination  to  the  decrees  of  His  Imperial 
Highness  and  for  negligence  in  an  affair  of  state. 

The  Admiralty  to  Captain  Bering,  Jan.  31,  1737. 

Inasmuch  as  you — in  spite  of  the  express  orders  of  the  Admiralty, 
wherein  it  is  stated  that  your  expedition  is  protracted  and  is  care- 
lessly conducted — have  not  reported  to  the  Admiralty  the  cause  of 
your  delay,  and  say  nothing  about  when  you  intend  to  leave 
Yakutsk,  you  are  hereby  deprived  of  your  supplemental  salary,  and 
will  receive  only  the  regular  salary,  until  you  send  such  a  report, 
and  until  you  continue  on  the  expedition  which  has  been  entrusted 
to  you. 


210  VITUS  BEBLNG. 

The  Admiralty  to  Captain  Bering,  Jan.  S3,  1738. 
From  Captain  Chirikoff  there  has  been  received  by  the  Admiralty 
a  report  from  Okhotsk  with  an  accompanying  copy  of  a  proposition 
laid  before  you  by  Chirikoff,  suggesting  measures  for  a  more  speedy 
completion  of  the  Kamchatka  expedition  under  your  charge.  As  no 
steps  had  been  taken  by  you  in  this  direction  as  late  as  May  8  of  the 
same  year,  the  Admiralty  has  concluded  to  demand  an  answer  from 
you,  if  any  plans  have  been  made  on  the  basis  of  Chirikoff's  proposi- 
tion, and  if,  contrary  to  our  expectations,  nothing  has  been  done, 
we  desire  to  know  why, — since,  according  to  the  orders  issued  to  you 
Feb.  21,  1737,  you  were  instructed  to  show  zeal  and  solicitude  for 
the  activity  of  the  expedition,  and  that  any  neglect  on  your  part 
would  make  you  liable  to  the  same  punishment  as  that  suffered  by 
Lieutenants  Muravjeff  and  Pauloff  for  negligence  in  conducting 
expeditions  entrusted  to  them.* 

(These  officers  were  reduced  to  the  rank  of  ordinary  sailors.) 
According  to  Bering's  reports  there  were  engaged  in  the  Great 
Northern  Expedition,  excluding  the  Academists  and  the  crew  on  the 
White  Sea  expedition,  the  following  number  of  men : 

In  the  year  1737  1738  1739 

From  the  Admiralty  259  254  256 

From  Siberia  324  320  320 


Total        583  574  576 

45.  To  an  inquiry  directed  to  the  Russian  Admiralty  asking  the 
reason  for  Bering's  long  stay  in  Yakutsk,  Admiral  Th.  Wessalgo 
has  given  me  the  following  information : 

"In  Yakutsk,  which  was  the  base  of  operations  for  the  whole 
expedition,  Bering  was  to  secure  wood,  iron,  and  other  materials  for 
the  building  of  the  necessary  ships,  and,  what  is  most  important,  he 
was  to  secure  provisions,  of  which  a  yearly  supply  of  16,000  poods 
was  necessary.  Although  the  furnishing  of  provisions  had  been 
assigned  to  the  Siberian  authorities,  they  did  nothing,  in  spite  of 
urgent  and  repeated  demands ;  hence  Bering  had  to  undertake  this 
work  himself.  Moreover,  the  immense  amount  of  materials  and 
provisions  collected  here  was  to  be  sent  to  Okhotsk,  a  task  which 
presented  insurmountable  obstacles:  the  country  was  a  wild  and 

*  The  author  gives  extracts  from  other  reports  of  the  same  tenor,  which 
the  translator  has  seen  fit  to  omit,  referring  the  reader  for  further  informa- 
tion on  this  subject  to  Bering's  own  report,  p.  195  of  this  volume. 


NOTES.  211 

desolate  region,  the  local  authorities  refused  their  co-operation  in 
promoting  the  enterprise,  there  was  constant  contention  and  dis- 
agreement among  the  various  officers  in  charge,  who  were  more  con- 
cerned in  their  own  personal  interests  than  in  the  comman  weal,  and 
Bering  himself — was  a  weak  character." 

46.  Stuckenberg:  HydrograpJiie  des  russischen  Reiches,  II. — 
Krasheninikoff :  Kamtschatka. — Pallas :  N.  Nord.  Beitrdge,  IV. — 
Sarycheff:   Reise,  etc. — Zapiski,  etc.:  IX.,  331. — Schuyler  :  Peter 
the  Great,  II.,  544. 

47.  On  account  of  the  Chukchee  war,  D.   Laptjef  was  to  go 
from  Kolyma  to  Anadyr  and  from  there  send  word  to  Bering  for  a 
vessel  or  to  go  himself  to  Kamchatka  for  it, — in  either  case  he  was 
to  sail  around  the  northeast  point  of  Asia  and  reach  the  mouth  of 
the  Kolyma.    When  he,  in  1741,  arrived  at  Anadyr,  Bering  had 
departed  for  America,  and  hence  he  could  do  no  more  than  build 
some  boats,  by  means  of  which  he,  in  1742,  charted  the  lower  course 
of  the  Anadyr,  and  returned  in  1743  to  Yakutsk.   Zapiski,  etc. :  IX., 
pp.  314-327.— Beitrdge,  XVI.,  pp.  121-122. 

48.  Baer  says :  Es  hdtte  dieser  Expedition  auch  die  voile  Aner- 
.kennung  nicht  fehlen  konnen,  die  man  ihnen  jetzt  erst  zollen  muss, 
nachdem  die  verwandte  Nordkuste  von  Amerika  nach  vielfachen 
Versuchen  noch  immer  nicht  ganz  bekannt  warden  ist.    Auch  hatten 
wir  den  Britten  zeigen  konnen,  wie  eine  solche  Kuste  aufgenommen 
werden  muss,  ndmlich  in  kleinen  Fahrzengen,  zwar  mit  weniger 
Comfort,  aber  mit  mehr  Sicherheit  des  Erfolges, — Beitrdge,  XVI., 
123. 

Middendorff:  Reise,  etc.,  IV.,  Part  I.,  49,  says:  Mit gerechtem 
Stolze  durfen  wir  aber  in  Erinnerung  rufen,  doss  zu  seiner  Zeit 
Russland  im  Osten  des  Nordens  durch  seine  "  Nordische  Expedi- 
tion "  nicht  minder  Grosses  vollbracht,  als  die  Britten  im  Westen. 

Petermann's  Mittheilungen,  1873,  p.  11:  Der  leitende  Gedanke 
zur  Aussendung  j'ener  Reihe  grossartiger  Expeditionen  war  der 
Wunsch  *  *  *  eine  nordostliche  Durchfahrt  zu  entdecken. 

49.  A.    Stuxberg:    Nordostpassagens   Historic.     Stockholm, 
1880.— Th.   M.   Fries:  Nordostpassagen.      Nser   og   Fjaern,   1880, 
No.  417. 

A.  E.  Nordenskjold:  The  Voyage  of  the  Vega. — In  a  long  and 
favorable  review  of  Nordenskj old's  book  in  Beitrdge  zur  Kenntniss 


212  VITUS   BEKING. 

des  russ.  Reiches,  St.  Petersburg,  1883,  VI.,  335,  the  Academist  Fr. 
Schmidt  expresses  himself  in  the  following  manner  concerning 
Nordenskjold's  presentation  of  the  history  of  the  Northeast  passage : 
Die  dritte  Gruppe  bilden  endlich  die  russischen  Reisen  im  Eismeer 
und  an  den  Kusten  desselben,  die  ebenfalls  ausfuhrlich  behandelt 
werden.  Hier  fallt  es  uns  nun  auf,  dass  im  Bestreben,  jedem  das 
Seine  zukommen  zu  lassen,  die  weniger  bekannten  Mitarbeiter  an  der 
Erweiterung  unsrer  Kenntniss,  denen  wir  gewiss  ihre  Verdienste 
nicht  absprechen  wollen,  fast  mochte  ich  sagen  auf  Kosten  unsrer 
beruhmten  gelehrten  Forscher  hervorgezogen  scheinen,  von  denen 
namentlich  Wrangell  und  auch  Boer  an  mehreren  Stellen  Angriffe 
zu  erdulden  haben,  die  wir  nicht  fur  gerechtfertigt  halten  konnen. 
Auch  Lutke  *  *  *  kommt  sehr  kurz  weg. 

This  criticism  might  be  applied  to  other  parts  of  Nordenskjold's 
historical  writings. 

50.  St.  Petersburg  Academy's  Memoirs  (Bull.  phys.  math.  Tom. 
III.,  No,  10.) 

51.  Beitrage,  etc.,  IX.,  495.   Baer  says :  Es  isthochst  erfreulich, 
die  mit  schweren  Opfern  erkdmpften  Verdienste  unserer  Marine- 
Officiere  vom  vorigen  Jahrhundert  von  dem  neuesten  Reisenden  in 
vollem  Moose  anerkannt  zu  sehen. — Nach  Herrn  v.  Middendorff  ist 
nun  gerade  Tscheljuskin  der  beharrlichste  und  genauesle  unter  den 
Theilnehmernj'ener  Expedition  gewesen.     Wir  wollen  ihn  also  gern 
vollstdndig  in  integrum  restituiren. 

62.  Zapiski,  etc.,  IX.,  308.  Chelyuskin's  original  account  is 
found  in  the  same  volume,  pp.  61-65.  The  German  translation 
appears  in  Petermann's  Mittheilungen,  1873,  p.  11. 

53.  Cook  and  King:  Voyage,  etc.,  III.,  391:  "For  the  group  of 
islands,  consisting  of  the  Three  Sisters,  Kunashir  and  Zellany 
(which  in  D'Anville's  Atlas  are  placed  in  the  track  we  had  just 
crossed)  being,  by  this  means,  demonstratively  removed  from  that 
situation,  an  additional  proof  is  obtained  of  their  lying  to  the  west- 
ward, where  Spangberg  actually  places  them,  between  the  long.  142° 
and  147°.  But  as  this  space  is  occupied,  in  the  French  charts,  by 
that  part  of  the  supposed  Land  of  Jeso  and  Staten  Island,  Mr. 
Miiller's  opinion  becomes  extremely  probable  that  they  are  all  the 
same  lands;  and,  as  no  reasons  appear  for  doubting  Spangberg's 
accuracy,  we  have  ventured  in  our  general  map  to  reinstate  the 


NOTES.  213 

Three  Sisters,  Zellany  and  Kunashir,  in  their  proper  situation,  and 
have  entirely  omitted  the  rest." — Cf.  O.  Peschel's  account,  p.  467, 
2dEd. 

54.  W.  Coxe:   An  Account  of  the  Russian  Discoveries.    Lon- 
don, 1781. 

55.  The  pre-Bering  explorations  of  Northwest  America  did  not 
extend  beyond  the  northern  boundary  of  California,  and  had  not 
succeeded  in  ascertaining  a  correct  outline  of  the  country.      In  the 
oldest  maps  of  the  new  world,    that  of  Ortelius  (1570),   Mercator 
(1585),  Ramusio  (1606),  and  W.  Blaew  (1635),  California  is  repre- 
sented as  a  peninsula;   but  on  the  maps  of   later  cartographers 
as  W.  Samson  (1659),  Wischer  (1660),  J.  Blaew,  Jansen  (1662),  Fr. 
de  Witt  (1666),  and  Nic.  Samson  (1667),  the  country  is  represented 
as  an  island,  and  this  view  was  held  until  G.   de  L'Isle  (1720) 
adopted  in  his  atlas  the  old  cartography  of  the  peninsula. 

Gvosdjeff's  expedition  to  Bering's  Strait  in  1732  is  but  slightly 
and  very  imperfectly  known  in  West  Europe.  It  was  undertaken 
by  Ivan  Fedoroff,  Moschkoff,  who  had  accompanied  Bering  on  his 
first  expedition,  and  the  surveyor  Gvosdjeff.  Fedoroff  is  thus  the 
real  discoverer  of  America  from  the  east,  and  the  world  has  given 
Gvosdjeff  the  honor  simply  for  the  reason  that  the  reports  of 
Fedoroff  and  his  associate  were  lost  and  he  himself  died  the  year 
after.  There  is  an  interesting  account  of  this  enterprise  in  Zapiski, 
etc.,  IX.,  78. 

56.  G.  W.  Steller:  Reise  von,  Kamtschatka  nach  Amerika.    St. 
Petersburg,  1793. 

57.  E.  Greenhow:  History  of  Oregon,  California  and  the  North- 
west Coast  of  North  America,  3d  ed.,  New  York,  1845,  p.  216.— W. 
H.  Ball:  Alaska  and  its  Resources.     Boston,  1870,  p.  257. — Milet- 
Mureau:  Voyage  de  la  Perouse  autour  du  Monde,  II.,  142-144  and 
Nate. — Vancouver:  Voyage,  etc. — Oltmann's:  Untersuchungen  uber 
die  Geographic  des  neuen  Continentes.     Paris,  1810,  II. 

58.  A.  J.  v.   Krusenstern:    HydrograpMe,    etc.,   p.    226. — 0. 
Peschel:  Geschichte  der  Erdkunde,  2d  ed.,  p.  463  and  Note. 

59.  According  to  Wrangell,  Dall  and  others,  both  Indians  and 
Eskimos  inhabit  this  region.     Clans  of    the    great  Tinne    tribe, 
Ugalenses,  stay  during  the  summer  on  the  Atna  River,  and  during 


214  VITUS  BERING. 

the  winter  on  Kayak  Island ;  but  on  the  coast  of  the  continent  from 
Ice  Bay  to  the  Atna  River  there  are  also  found  Innuits,  the  Ugalak- 
muts. — See  Vahl:  Alaska,  p.  39.  The  people  that  Bering  found  on 
the  island  must,  according  to  Sauer,  have  been  Chugachees,  Eski- 
mos that  live  about  Prince  William's  Sound. 

See  also  H.  H.  Bancroft,  Native  Races,  San  Francisco,  1882,  Vol. 
I.— TR. 

60.  Gavrila  Sarycheff:  Achtjahrige  Reise  im  norddstlichen 
Sibirien,  auf  dem  Eismeer  und  dem  norddstlichen  Ocean.  Leipzig, 
1806,  II.,  57. — Sauer:  An  Account,  etc.,  p.  198.  "This  per- 
fectly answers  to  Steller's  account  of  the  Cape  St.  Elias.  of  Bering, 
and  is  undoubtedly  the  very  spot  where  Steller  landed,  and  where 
the  things  above  mentioned  were  left  in  the  cellar.  Thus  it  is  very 
plain  that  Cape  St.  Elias  is  not  the  southern  point  of  Montague 
Island,  but  Kay's  Island." — G.  Shelikoff :  Erste  und  Zweite  Reise. 
St.  Petersburg,  1793. 

81.   ZapisU,  IX.,  303.— The  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey,  1882. 


62.  Dall:  Alaska  and  its  Resources,  p.  300. — Vahl  in  his  work 
on  Alaska  repeats  DalPs  opinion  in  a  somewhat  milder  form. 

63.  Krusenstern:    Recueil   de  Memoires  Hydrogr.,  II.,   72. — 
Cook  and  King:  Voyage,  III.,  384. — The  Geodetic  Coast  Survey, 
1882. 

64.  Dr.  Leonhard  Stejneger,  under  date  of  June  9,  1889,  writes 
the  translator :  "The  locality  indicated  in  Liitke's  map  is  correct. 
It  is  consequently  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  island.      Steller's  state- 
ment that  it  was  on  the  northern  side  is  easily  explained  as  follows : 
The  valley  where  he  landed  opens  toward  the  northeast,  and  the 
corresponding  valley  on  the  other  side  of  the  island  runs  southwest ; 
this  side  consequently  became  the  southern  side.     At  the  time  of  the 
shipwreck  the  magnetic  deviation  was  much  more  easterly  than  it  'is 
now,  so  that  by  compass  the  direction  of  the  eastern  coast  was  much 
more    E.-W.    than    at   present.     Throughout   his  description    of 
Bering  Island,  Steller  says  north  and  south,  where  we  would  say  east 
and  west. 

"  My  visit  to  this  locality  in  1882,  I  have  described  in  detail  in 
Deutsche  GeograpMsche  Blatter  (1885),  where  you  will  also  find  a 
sketch  map  of  it,  as  well  as  a  plan  of  the  house  in  which  the  survi- 
vors wintered. 


NOTES.  215 

"Since  I  wrote  my  account,  I  have  been  able  to  consult  Steller's 
own  description  of  the  wintering,  and  I  find  that  the  house  which  I 
have  described  and  given  the  plan  of,  was  the  one  they  built  in  the 
spring,  after  the  freshet  which  drove  them  out  of  the  dug-outs  (Gru- 
ben)  on  the  bank  of  the  creek,  traces  of  which  are  still  visible. 
I  also  found  a  number  of  relics  at  a  place  which  I  took  to  be  the 
point  where  they  rebuilt  the  vessel.  In  a  letter  Mr.  Lauridsen  sug- 
gested to  me  the  probability  that  I  had  found  not  this  place,  but  the 
locality  where  the  store-house  was  built,  in  which  the  men  left  what 
they  could  not  carry  on  the  new  vessel,  and  that  the  latter  must 
have  been  built  near  the  southern  end  of  the  bay.  After  reading 
Steller's  own  account,  however,  I  feel  absolutely  certain  that  the 
ship  was  built  at  the  northern  end,  near  the  huts  and  dug-outs,  at  the 
place  where  I  found  the  relics.  It  is  quite  probable,  however,  that 
the  store-house  was  built  in  very  close  proximity,  if  not  on  the  very 
spot." 

65.  Leonhard  Stejneger:  Fra  del  yderste  Osten.     Naturen,  Vol. 
8.    Kristiania,  1884,  pp.  65-69.— Proceedings  of  the  United  States 
National  Museum,  1884.    Investigations  Relating  to  the  Date  of  the 
Extermination  of  Steller's  Sea-Cow,  by  Leonhard  Stejneger. — Henry 
W.  Elliott :   A  Monograph  of  the  Seal  Islands  of  Alaska,  Washing- 
ton, 1882.—  Neue  N.  Beitrage,   II.,  279.— G.  W.  Steller:  Ausf. 
Beschreibung   von    sonderbaren   Meerthieren.      Halle,    1753. — E. 
Reclus:  Geographic,  etc.,  VI.,  794. 

66.  Concerning  Chirikoff ,  full  information  is  given  in  Sokolofl : 
Chirikoff's  Voyage   to  America,    St.  Petersburg,  1849  (Russian). 
He  died  in  1748  at  Moscow. 

See  also  H.  H.  Bancroft,  History  of  the  Pacific  States  of  North 
America,  Vol.  XXXIII.,  History  of  Alaska,  San  Francisco,  1886.— 
TR. 


INDEX. 


Academists,  70,  78 ;  leave  Tobolsk, 
81. 

Academy  of  Science,  Russian,  57. 

Addington,  cape,  189. 

Admiralty  Bay,  145. 

Admiralty,  Russian,  dissatisfac- 
tion with  Bering,  95. 

Afgonak,  island,  156. 

Aino,  124. 

Akischis,  strait,  124. 

Alaska,  178. 

Aldan,  river,  23. 

Aleutian  Islands,  134,  140;  dis- 
covery of,  167,  187. 

Aleutians,  Nearer,  168. 

Aliaska,  161. 

Amassoff,  18. 

Amchitka,  167. 

America  Pars,  14. 

Anadyr,  fort,  42. 

Anadyr,  river,  Cossacks  at,  16; 
the  Gabriel  at,  30. 

Anadyrsk,  46. 

Anian,  strait,  13,  15. 

Anjou,  110. 

Anna  Ivanovna,  63. 

Apraxin,  9. 

Archangel  Michael,  ship,  100. 

Arctic  Coast,  charting  of,  62,  83. 

Arctic  expeditions,  107. 

Arctic  explorations,  work  of  Rus- 
sia and  England  in,  3. 

Arctic  foxes,  181. 

Arii  Kamen,  175. 

Asia  and  America,  boundary  be- 
tween, 13. 

Atka,  island,  165. 


Atna,  estuary,  148. 
Attu,  island,  168. 
Avacha,  127,  134,  170,  190. 


Baikal,  lake,  91. 

Balshaya,  river,  26. 

Bancroft,  H.  H.,  note  on,  64; 
64 ;  note  from,  73,  140 ;  note  on 
identity  of  Kayak  and  St.  Elias, 
149;  note  on,  188. 

Baranoff  Cliff,  109. 

Barants,  map  of,  14. 

Bartholomew,  cape,  189. 

Bear  Islands,  18,  67. 

Bellini,  map  by,  20, 118. 

Berch,  V.,  authority,  41;  opinion 
of  Bering,  52,  61. 

Bering  Bay,  144;  incorrect  loca- 
tion of,  146. 

Bering  Island,  51 ;  discovery  of, 
169;  description  of,  174. 

Bering  Haven,  149. 

Bering  Peninsula,  67. 

Bering,  Riviere  de,  145. 

Bering  Strait,  discovery  of,  32; 
Gvosdjeff  in,  130. 

Bering,  Vitus,  first  expedition,  2; 
nativity,  6;  in  Baltic  fleet,  9; 
in  Sea  of  Azov  and  Black  Sea, 
10;  promotions,  10;  in  Arch- 
angel, 10;  home  of,  11;  dis- 
charge and  re-appointment  of, 
11;  plans  for  first  expedition, 
12;  knowledge  of  Siberian 
geography,  19;  starts  on  first 
expedition,  21;  at  Irkutsk,  22; 
at  Yakutsk,  22 ;  in  relation  to 


217 


218 


INDEX. 


Serdze  Kamen,  40;  return  to 
St.  Petersburg,  42,  52;  winters 
at  the  Fort,  50;  recognition  in 
West  Europe,  57 ;  map  by,  57 ; 
plans  for  Great  Northern  Expe- 
dition, 61 ;  recommendations  to 
Senate,  65;  instructions  to,  66; 
chief  of  Great  Northern  Expe- 
dition, 72;  estimate  of,  76,  94; 
Russian  name  of,  77 ;  report  to 
Admiralty,  89, 195 ;  accusations 
against,  94;  wife  of,  94;  at 
Okhotsk,  99;  at  Avacha,  128; 
plans  for  expedition  to  America, 
129;  orders  from  Senate,  131, 
134;  taken  ill,  140;  discovers 
American  coast,  140;  stay  off 
Kayak  Island,  150;  defense  of , 
152;  determinations  of  lat., 
158;  removed  from  the  St. 
Peter,  182;  sickness  of,  183; 
death  of,  186;  monument  of, 
187,  192;  results,  187,  190;  re- 
ports of,  190. 

Betge,  surgeon,  135. 

Billings,  map  by,  45;  145,  148. 

Biron,  64,  189. 

Blanco,  cape,  14,  37. 

Blizhni  Islands,  168. 

Bolsheretsk,  26,  52,  119. 

Borkhaya  Bay,  92. 

Boussale  Channel,  120. 

Brandt,  180. 

Bredal,  Peter,  9. 

Broughton,  Capt.,  at  Kuriles,  120; 
123. 

Buache,  191. 

Byistraya,  river,  26. 

Bykoff,  river,  92. 


California,  37. 

Campbell,  Dr.,  opinion  of  Bering, 

29;  47,  57. 
Chamisso,  137. 
Chaplin,  Peter,  21. 
Charitonoff,  167. 
Charlesvoix,  Peter,  Histoire  du 

Japan,  20. 


Chegatchoff,  135. 

Chekin,  81. 

Chelyuskin,  81,  109,  114,  116. 

Chelyuskin,  cape,  114. 

Chinkoff,  A.,  in  first  expedition, 
21;  instructions  to,  66;  75,  77, 
81,  95,  96,  103,  129,  131,  134, 
135 ;  on  Pacific  expedition,  139 ; 
results,  188;  at  Okhotsk,  190. 

Chirikoff  Island,  158. 

Chi-Shima  Islands,  119. 

Chutkotskoi,  cape,  doubled  by 
Bering,  32;  44. 

Chuckchee  Peninsula,  40,  44,  133. 

Chukli,  island,  145. 

Clerke,  Capt.,  187. 

Commander  Islands,  169 ;  descrip- 
tion of ,  175;  seals  on,  179. 

Controller  Bay,  146. 

Cook,  Capt.,  30;  in  Bering  Strait, 
36;  opinion  of  Bering,  38,  39; 
47,  48,  53,  57,  67,  112,  125, 
137 ;  Bering's  place  of  landing, 
144;  147,  156,  158,  191. 

Copper,  estuary,  148. 

Copper  Island,  discovery  of,  169 ; 
description  of,  175;  sea-otters 
on,  178. 

Corea,  126. 

Cossacks,  16. 

Coxe,  W.,  125. 

Cruys,  C.,  made  vice-admiral,  8. 


Call,  W.  H.,  opinion  of  Bering, 

151. 

Dalrymple,  A.,  39. 
D'Anville,  atlas  of,  57. 
Deception  Islands,  168. 
De  I'lsle,  G.,  53  et  sea.;  sketch 

of,  130. 
De  I'lsle,    J.    N.,    18,    53,    56; 

sketch  of,  130,  191. 
De  Lowenorn,  Danish  admiral,  39. 
Deshneff,  16,  20,  110,  111. 
Diomede  Island,  discovery  of,  33; 

latitude  of,  41. 
Dixon,  144. 
Dolgoruki,  64. 


INDEX. 


219 


Du  Halde,  32,  40. 
Dwina,  67,  112. 


Eared  Seals,  178,  179. 
East  Cape,  32. 
Endoguroif,  96. 
Engel,  Richard,  21. 
Euratchey  Island,  157. 


Fairweather,  Mt.,  144,  145. 

Figurnyi,  island,  123. 

Foggy  Island,  158. 

Forster,  R.,  39. 

Fortuna,  ship,  launching  of,  25, 

100. 

Franklin,  21,  68. 
Fries,  T.  M.,  Prof.,  112. 
Fur  Company,  Russo-American, 

178. 


Gabriel,  ship,  29,  41,  100,  119. 

Gama,  Juan  de,  55,  133. 

Gamaland,  55,  121, 130;  situation 
of,  133,  134;  search  for,  139. 

Germans  and  Frenchmen  in  Rus- 
sian service,  53. 

Gmelin,  J.  G.,  68;  opinion  of 
Lassenius,  82,  91,  93. 

Golovnin,  73. 

Gordon,  Admiral,  9. 

Gore,  Capt.,  120. 

Great  Northern  Expedition,  72; 
leaves  St.  Petersburg,  77;  trans- 
portation of  stores,  87 ;  discon- 
tinuance of,  190;  at  Tomsk, 
190. 

Grib,  Peder,  9. 

Guanahani,  144. 

Gvosdjeff,  M.,  discovery  of  Amer- 
ican coast  by,  130. 

H 

Hammond,  cape,  148. 
Harris,  P.,  57. 


Sartelpol,  135. 

Elazius,  40. 

Herzenberg,  9. 

Hesselberg,  135,  166;   death  of, 

185. 

Boly  Cross,  bay,  31. 
Eomann,  16. 
Hondius,  J.,  15. 
Hondo,  54. 
Hope  (Nadeshda),  ship,  100. 


Qarion,  Rev.,  21. 
[lira,  river,  22. 
Ilimsk,  22. 
Innuit,  163. 
Irkutsk,  72,  74. 
Irkutsk,  boat,  81. 
Irtish,  21. 
Iturup,  117,  124. 
Ivanoff,  114. 


Japan  Islands,  62,   111;   Spang- 
berg's  expedition  to,  117  et  seq. 
Jeco,  124,  133. 
Jefdokjejefski  Islands,  159. 
Jelmerland,  109. 
Jerimo,  cape,  124. 
Jushin,  135. 

K 

Kadiak  Island,  157. 
Khariulakh,  river,  92,  93. 
Kamchadales,  74. 
Kamchatka,  conquest  of,  17,  118; 

charting  of,  189. 
Kamchatka,  fort,  27. 
Kamchatka,  river,  30. 
Kara  Sea,  62,  109. 
Kasanssoff,  94. 
Kayak  Island,  144;  identity  with 

St.  Elias,  146. 
Kazan,  78. 
Ket,  river,  22. 
Khatanga,  river,  116. 
Khitroff,  135,  137,  141,  148,  156, 

161,  ITO. 


INDEX. 


Khitroff,  cape,  173. 

Kiriloff,  J.  K.,  52,  57,  65,  69; 
support  of  Bering,  73. 

Kiska,  island,  167. 

Kisseloff,  167. 

Kolessoff,  128. 

Kolyma,  20. 

Kompagniland,  54,  117,  133. 

Konosir  Island,  124. 

Kosyrefski,  I.,  explorations  of, 
17;  as  monk,  19,  52;  at  Kuriles, 
118. 

Kotzebue,  137. 

Krasheninnikoff,  92. 

Krassilnikoff,  66,  131,  156. 

Krusenstern,  125,  146, 157;  essay 
by,  158. 

Kumashir,  123. 

Kur,  12. 

Kuriles,  early  knowlege  of,  18; 
location  of,  51 ;  Spangberg's 
expedition  to,  117,  118;  chart- 
ing of,  122. 

Kurile  Strait,  121. 

Kushka,  99. 


La  Croyere,  L.  (L.  De  L'Isle),  66, 
69,  78,  103;  sketch  of,  131. 

La  Perouse,  67;  at  Kuriles,  120; 
125,  144,  145. 

La  Perouse  Strait,  54. 

Laptjef,  C.,  109. 

Laptjef,  D.,  93,  109,  114,  189. 

Larionoff,  Lieut.,  102. 

Lassenius,  Peter,  arctic  expedi- 
tion of,  82,  92;  death  of,  93, 
96. 

Lau,  surgeon,  135. 

Lauridsen,  Peter,  reply  to  Nor- 
denskjold,  15. 

Le  Mesurier,  cape,  146. 

Lena  River,  107,  109. 

Liakhov  Island,  discovery  of,  16. 

Linglin  GaT,  45. 

Lopatka,  cape,  51. 

Losseff,  89. 

Lushin,  17;  in  Yakutsk,  19,  52, 
119,  132. 


Lutke,  Admiral,  defense  of  Ber- 
ing, 38;  113. 

M 

Mackenzie,  21. 

Malsepina,  144. 

Malygin,  109. 

Marmot  Island,  152,  157. 

Martinier,  114. 

Matmai,  cape,  124. 

Maya  River,  23. 

McClure,  113. 

Mednie  (Copper  Island),  175. 

Melnikoff,  67. 

Menshikoff,  9,  86. 

Mercator,  G.,  15. 

Mexico,  66. 

Middendorff,  110,  114,  115,  180. 

Minin,  109. 

Montague  Island,  145,  148. 

Monti,  Bay  de,  145. 

Morison,  George,  21. 

Miiller,  G.  H.,  32;  opinion  on 
SerdzeKamen,  42;  at  Yakutsk, 
44;  53,  68,  91,  93,  118;  refutes 
De  L'Isle,  191. 

Munk,  Jens,  92. 

Munnich,  189. 

N 

Nadeshda,  island,  120. 

Nerchinsk,  treaty  of,  16. 

Niakina  Cove,  127. 

Niemann,  Dr.,  21. 

Nipon,  island,  54,  118,  121. 

Nordenskjold,  review  by,  15;  110, 
113-115;  note  on,  116;  177- 
179. 

Northeast  passage,  13,  14;  Ber- 
ing's opinion  of,  35,  charting 
of,  36,  110,  125. 

Northwest  passage,  113. 

Norwegians  and  Danes  in  service 
of  Peter  the  Great,  7. 

Notske,  cape,  123. 

Novaia  Zemlia,  109,  111. 

Novgorod,  78. 

Nystad,  peace  of,  11. 


INDEX. 


221 


Obdorsk,  81. 

Obi  River,  21,  107. 

Obi,  gulf,  109. 

Ofzyn,  Lieut.,  79;  at  Obdorsk, 

81;    in  Gulf  of  Obi,   93,  109; 

saves  the  St.  Peter,  171,  172. 
Okhotsk,   arrival  at,  24,  62,  79; 

building  of,  99;  fleet  in,  103. 
Okhotsk,  sea  of,  explorations  in, 

26. 

Olenek,  34,  92. 
Ostermann,  64,  73,  189. 
Ostrog,  Kamchatka,  27. 
Otheres,  114. 


Pallas,  45. 

Patience,  bay,  123. 

Patience,  cape,  54. 

Patiloff,  21. 

Pavlutski,  Capt.,  43,  45,  83. 

Peschel,  0.,  117,  118,  146. 

Petchora,  107. 

Peter  the  Great,  Scandinavians  in 

service  of,  7;  death  of,  21,  63. 
Petroff,  96,  119. 
Petermann,  Dr.,  Ill,  116. 
Petropavlovsk,  founding  of,  127. 
Pissarjeff,  65,  83;    quarrel  with 

Bering,  84;  sketch  of,  85,  95; 

removal  of,  103,  126. 
Planting,  93-96,  135, 
Plenisner,  153. 
Pontanus,  J.  J.,  14. 
Popoflf,   Cossack,   on   Chuckchee 

peninsula,  17,  66. 
Preobrashensky,  bay,  31. 
Pribyloff  Islands,  178. 
Prince  William's  Sound,  145, 148. 
Pronchisheff,  81,  92,  93,  96, 109. 

R 

Reclus,  67. 

Remesoff,  atlas  of,  16. 
Ruge,  Prof.,  117,  119. 
Russian  fleet,  founding  of,  9. 


Saghalin,  island,  54;  charting  of, 
125. 

Sarycheff,  Admiral,  at  Kuriles, 
120;  146,  148. 

Sauer,  M.,  146;  description  of 
St.  Blias,  147. 

Saunders,  Vice-Admiral,  11. 

Savjaloff,  167. 

Schaep,  H.  C.,  54. 

Schelagskii,  cape,  110. 

Schelting,  Lieut.,  119. 

Scurvy,  182. 

Schwatka,  21. 

Sea  Cow,  179:  correct  scientific 
name,  179;  extermination  of, 
179 ;  importance  of,  180. 

Sea  Lion,  178. 

Sea  Lion  Island,  175. 

Sea  Otter,  177. 

Seljonyi,  island,  123. 

Semichi  Islands,  167. 

Semidi  Islands,  159. 

Senate,  Russian,  orders  of,  64. 

Serdze  Kamen,  cape,  39  et  seq. 

Shafiroff,  85. 

Shantar  Islands,  65. 

Shestakoff,  18,  56. 

Shumagins,  discovery  of,  161; 
stay  at,  162,  164. 

Siberia,  determinations  of  longi- 
tude in,  38;  scientific  explora- 
tion of,  68. 

Sievers,  Peter,  9. 

Sikotan,  island,  123. 

Skeving,  9, 

Skuradoff,  109. 

Soimonoff,  73. 

Sokoloff,  K.,  75;  opinion  of 
Spangberg,  84,  94;  Bering's 
assistants,  95;  opinion  of  Ber- 
ing, 96,100,116;  qualifications 
of,  137,  159,  reproved  by  Ban- 
croft, 189,  note. 

Spangberg,  M.,  in  first  expedi- 
tion, 21 ;  at  the  Kut,  22 ;  win- 
ter at  the  Yudoma,  24;  sets 
sail,  26,  50 ;  instructions  to,  66, 
77,  82;  nativity  of,  84;  accusa- 


222 


INDEX. 


tions  against,  94,  96;  at  Ok- 
hotsk, 100;  expedition  to  Japan, 
102, 117;  return  to  Bolsheretsk, 
120;  results  of  expedition,  125; 
return  to  Yakutsk,  126;  at 
Kirinsk,  126 ;  return  from  third 
expedition  to  Japan,  190 

Spangberg's  Island,  123. 

Staaten  Eiland,  54,  117,  133. 

St.  Abraham  Island,  168. 

Stanoyoi  Mts.,  84,  89. 

St.  Elias,  island,  141  et  seq. 

Stejneger,  L.,  Dr.,  translator's 
preface;  note  on,  173, 178;  note 
by,  174;  description  of  Steller's 
Arch,  176;  concerning  sea-cow, 
179,  180. 

Steller,  G.  W.,  opinion  of  Bering's 
first  expedition,  46;  57,  92; 
estimate  of  Bering,  97;  at  Ok- 
hotsk, 103;  joins  the  Pacific 
expedition,  135;  nativity  and 
sketch  of,  136;  diary  of,  137; 
on  American  soil,  141 ;  descrip- 
tion of  St.  Elias,  147;  150; 
ridicules  Bering,  151;  165;  de- 
scription of  animal  life,  176; 
honored  by  Stjeneger,  176,  note ; 
care  of  the  castaways,  181 ;  ac- 
count of  Bering's  death,  186. 

Steller,  Mount,  176,  note. 

Steller's  Triumphal  Arch,  descrip- 
tion of,  176,  note;  representa- 
tion of,  177. 

Sterlegoff,  80,  109. 

St.  Hermogenes,  island,  152;  dis- 
covery of,  156. 

St.  Johannes,  island,  165. 

St.  Kresta  Bay,  31;  the  Gabriel 
at,  31,  46. 

St.  Lawrence  Island,  34,  41. 

St.  Marcus  Island,  167. 

St.  Paul,  ship,  building  of,  100, 
102 ;  crew  of,  135 ;  course  of,  139. 

St.  Peter,  building  of,  100,  102; 
crew  of ,  135;  journals  of ,  137; 
course  of,  139;  return  voyage, 
156  et  seq.;  at  Shumagins,  164; 
determinations  of  latitude  by, 
167;  stranding  of,  172. 


Strahlenberg,  18;   outline  maps 

by,  20,  118. 

St.  Stephen,  island,  158,  167. 
St.  Thaddeus,  cape,  30. 
Stuxberg,  A.,  Dr.,  111. 
Suckling,  cape,  146. 


Tabbert  (Strahlenberg),   55. 
Taimyr,  peninsula,    82,  93,  109; 

cartography  of,  114,  115. 
Taroko,  islands,  123. 
Texeira,  55. 

Three  Sisters,  islands,  124. 
Tigil,  128. 

Tobol,  79 ;  launching  of,  80. 
Tobolsk,  arrival  at,  21. 
Tolbukhin,  Lieut.,  102. 
Tordenskjold,  Peter,  note  on,  9. 
Trane,  Thure,  9. 
Tumannoi  Island,  158. 
Tunguska  River,  22. 
Tuscarora,  139. 

U 

Udinsk,  62. 
Ukamok,  island,  158. 
Urak,  river,  23. 
Ural  Mts.,  68. 
Urup,  island,  117. 
Ustkutsk,  22. 
Ust  Maiskaya,  88. 


Vancouver,  67,  144,  148. 

Vancouver's  Island,  158. 

Van  Dieman,  54. 

Vangondie,  R.  de,  39. 

Van  Haven,  78. 

Varkhoiansk,  102. 

Vega  expedition,   109,    113-115, 

179. 

Viligin,  18. 
Vlaming,  112. 
Volga,  80, 
Von  Baer,  36,  41,  48,  72,  98,  111, 

115;  concerning  sea-cow,   180, 

192. 


INDEX. 


223 


Voyage  of  the  Vega,  113-115, 179. 
Vries,  M.  de,  54,  117,  124. 

W 

Walton,  96,  120,  121,  126. 

Walvisch  Bay,  123. 

Waxel,  Lieut.,  96,  135,  137,  152; 

in  command  of  the  St.  Peter, 

161,  167,  169,  170. 
Wilster,  D.,  Admiral,  9. 
Wingham  Island,  146,  147. 
Witsen,  N.,  15. 
Wrangell,  110,  113. 
Wrangell  Island,  18. 


Yablonoi,  Mts.,  16. 
Yakutat  Bay  (Bering  Bay),  146. 
Yakutsk,  62;  foundry  at,  83. 
Yakutsk,  sloop,  81. 
Yelagin,  127. 
Yenisei,  22,  107. 
Yevrinoff,  17,  119,  132. 
Yudoma,  river,  23. 
Yudomskaya  Krest,  23. 
Yezo,  14,  117. 


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